Ekiti organises trade fair to boost entrepreneurial, vocational skills

Deputy Governor of Ekiti state, Prof. Modupe Adelabu, has canvassed for robust skills and entrepreneurship development at the primary level to combat the geometric increase in the level of unemployment in the country.

Making the statement in Ado Ekiti during the 2nd Trade Fair for Public Primary Schools in Ekiti, Adelabu said the essence of the programme “is to enhance the pupils’ entrepreneurial and technical skills that could make them employers of labour in future, rather than job-seekers.”

She said: “As we all know, entrepreneurial education is meant to equip the pupils with relevant skills to enable them stand on their own without necessarily running after non-existing white collar jobs after leaving schools. The primary goal is to promote creativity and innovation through acquisition of requisite skills.”

At the programme initiated by Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board, the pupils made exhibition in handiwork like; pottery, dying, wood carving, pottery, weaving and knitting.
Wife of Ekiti state Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, who lauded the SUBEB for the programme, charged the parents to be conscious of the new trends in the nation’s economy, which demanded that children must develop certain skills aside from their academic works.

Mrs Fayemi said as part of the measure to boost education at the cradle that the government had established early Child Education Centre, in Ado Ekiti, to give the children a background that could enable them to strive for greatness, even with minimal education.
The Brand Manager, Honeywell Flour Mills, Mr Lanre Da-Silva, urged parents to be conscious of the natural potentials in their children, saying that such natural knack must be nurtured to maturity for sustainable and prosperous future.

Da-Silva, who said his company was partnering with SUBEB to boost early education in Ekiti, said “there is no human being without potential or natural endowment.”
“You don’t have to be professors before you become great in life. With minimal education and good skills, you can rise to any level,” he said.