Wike flags off construction of vocational schools

Supervising Minister of Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, at the weekend, flagged off the construction of vocation schools for the South-south zone, saying that the Jonathan administration remained determined to ensure that all the Nigerian children “who are out of school are educated and equipped with relevant skills to survive in a competitive environment.”
He said: “We have successfully applied education as a tool of national development. The special vocational schools will train the children to be proficient in literacy and numeracy and also have entrepreneurial skills in selected trades.”
The minister announced that the federal government would complete the schools in the next six months, pointing out that Vocational education “is critical to attaining key aspects of the administration’s Four-Year Strategic Plan for the development of education.”
According to him, the federal government will continue to work with states and other stakeholders to improve education in the country.
Akwa Ibom state governor, Godswill Akpabio, who attended the ceremony, said President Goodluck Jonathan had invested more in the creation of access to quality education for less privileged Nigerians more than any other administration in the past.
The governor stated that the flag off of the construction of Special Universal Basic Education (UBE), Vocational Schools in the South-south and South-east by the Jonathan administration indicate that the nation is on the part of greatness by equipping her youths with relevant skills.
In his remarks, Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Dikko Suleiman, said that only five states out of the 11 in the South-south and South-east had made land available for the construction of the schools.
The UBEC boss said upon completion the schools would be handed over to the states that would administer them and provide staffing, adding that the Implementation Framework and curriculum for the existence of the schools.