From Emmanuel Onwusoro, Ado-Ekiti
Vocational skills acquisition by polytechnic students have been underscored as veritable way through which the growing unemployment in Nigeria can be reduced.
The Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Temitope Alake, stated this while addressing the media after a facility visit of the completed and on-going projects in the institution.
He said the visit and acquainting journalists with the state of affairs became necessary for the world to know how far the journey had been since one year after he assumed the leadership of the school.
Dr. Alake remarked that the institution has been performing excellently in its core areas of mandate as a technological tertiary institution.
According to him, what goes on in the society now is not a question of having certificate, but what can be done with the certificate.
“We talk about the blue-color job all over the world, people want to put on their tie. But, here we talk about the job you do with your hands. What service can you render with you certificate? And that is the level we are going into now,” he stressed.
The Rector underscored that the purpose of education should be for skills acquisition as it is the mandate in the polytechnic.
“We train our students to acquire skills, so that they don’t go out looking for job. They become job creators. And believing me, when you take the census, there is nobody that has passed through the polytechnic system that will not be a job creator.”
He explained that government is trying to radicalize its services and it is against this background that the digital economy is already reducing need for manpower.
The Polytechnic helmsman appealed to parents to allow their children to acquire vocational skills that will help them, as gone are those days when those who attended a technical school or a polytechnic were seen as never-do-wells.
He commended the federal government for making it compulsory that all students that pass through the polytechnic educational system must have skills that are different from their primary course of study.
Dr Alake who is the seventh substantive Rector of the Polytechnic, appreciated the past Rectors of the polytechnic for their contributions, pointing out that the job is challenging.
On staff welfare, he said workers must be motivated for them to deliver.
