FG Committed To Strengthening Capacity Of Nigerian Polytechnics — Minister

Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has expressed the Federal Government commitment to strengthening the capacity of Polytechnics to train competent graduates in Human Resource Management.

This is to enable such graduates to contribute to the industrial and technological development of the country.

Adamu gave the assurance at the Combined 9th Convocation Ceremony of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, Nasarawa State at Ta’al Sport Complex on Saturday.

The minister was represented by the Director of ICT, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Ifegwu Orji

The minister, who said that Polytechnics had a pivotal role to play in the area of technical and vocational training, urged institutions of higher learning to develop and inculcate in youths, appropriate attitudes and career guidance to enable them engage in lifelong learning and development.

According to him, the government believes that solving unemployment in the country will ultimately be through technical and vocational education and training.

 

Adamu said that the government decision to diversify the economy was based on the consideration that, there were several opportunities for self-employment, especially in the agriculture value chain.

He said that government was making all necessary investments, in both human and material terms, to ensure that Nigerian tertiary institutions ranked among the league of global institutions.

“In this regard, efforts are being made through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and other funding sources to upgrade our institutions in the areas of academic and infrastructure development,” Adamu said.

Earlier in his speech, the Acting Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Malam Abdullahi Alhassan, said the institution had recorded substantial development since its last convocation, cutting across infrastructure, academic, staff development and students enrollment.

Alhassan, however, decried inadequate funding which he said had slowed down activities of the institution in certain key areas of operations.