By Victor Ogunje
The Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Hephzibar Oladebeye, has stressed the need for the country to encourage technical education through proper funding of polytechnics as well as other Science and Technology schools to train Nigerians in skills and vocations that can guarantee self employment.
Oladebeye said acquisition of skills remains the greatest antidote to unemployment and insecurity caused by youth restiveness and other forms of crimes in the Nigerian society.
The polytechnic administrator lauded Governor Kayode Fayemi’s huge investment in education, saying the transformation under knowledge economy will definitely make Ekiti a fastest growing state in the country in future.
Oladebeye spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday while receiving books and instructional materials worth millions of naira donated to the School of Environmental Studies by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Fayemi on Public Building and Infrastructures, Mr. Wale Ajayi.
Describing the donations as a good development, Oladebeye noted that the gesture will go a long way in complementing the efforts of the government in making the institution being ranked best in technical education in the country.
“I am elated with the donations simply because not all politicians will want to do this, it is not common among the politicians. This is the second of its type since I became Rector.
“Technical education is key to the survival of any economy, especially a developing one and all hands must be on the deck to promote it to rescue us from this messy unemployment and insecurity situation.
“The donor is a good ambassador of this institution. You have brought honour to us, we will continue to support the administration of Dr. Fayemi and ensure its success,” he said.
The donor, Ajayi, said the donation was a fulfilment of the second cardinal programme of Governor Fayemi, which centred on knowledge economy and amplified the need for public-private partnership for the upliftment of education in the state.
He applauded the management of the institution for the opportunity given him to serve in the institution, noting that the knowledge he gained while lecturing really manifested in his political career.
He said the donations was part of his contribution towards the development of the institution and to pay back to the polytechnic community that had given him enough knowledge.
Ajayi called on philanthropists in the state to always complement the government by investing in the development of the polytechnic and other tertiary institutions in Ekiti.
The Dean, School of Environmental Studies, Mr. Oyedokun Abiodun, described the donor as a good ambassador of the institution, urging other politicians to emulate the good gesture by investing in the school.
