Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel has approved the inclusion of Entrepreneurship training in the Curriculum of studies at the Akwa Ibom State University, AKSU.
Gov. Emmanuel announced this while declaring open the first Akwa Ibom Education Summit and Exhibitions held at Mboho mkparawa Ibibio Hall, Udo Udoma Avenue, Uyo.
He said the training was for graduates to become employers of labour and not white collar job seekers after school.
He described the theme of the Summit “Human Capacity Development for Sustainable Transformation of Persons and Society”, as very apt and called on all the stakeholders to collaborate to chart a functional pathway to restructure the Education sector.
Emmanuel posited that the education system required urgent and pragmatic approach in the execution of the resolution by the technical committee taking into cognizance the inputs by the various resource persons.
He expressed his commitment to turn around the education sector, assuring that the skills development center at Ikot Adaidem and the Technical College, Ikot Akata will soon be implemented to positively engage the youths in building a viable economy.
According to him if youths are not engaged and the future assured by building the economy through viable capacity development, then the future of democracy would be threatened.
He emphasized the importance of child education as panacea for a better society, and called on parents, care givers, family, churches and community leaders to join hands in the training of children while also urging teachers to be more dedicated to their duties for successful human capacity development.
The governor also charged corporate organizations and well placed individuals to contribute to human capacity development, stressing that Government alone cannot perform the magic.
He said that his administration would continue to build infrastructure, pay West African Examination fees and provide free compulsory and qualitative education for the citizens.
The Commissioner for Education in the state, Nse Essien said the summit was intended to address the manpower deficit in a fast growing economy of Akwa Ibom and the only way to achieve it is by restructuring the educational system and called on all the resource persons and stakeholders to proffer solution to the challenges in the education system.
He thanked the State Governor for approving the summit and providing sincere leadership for the state.
Meanwhile, former Governor Obong Victor Attah lauded the initiative to organize the summit and expressed the hope that the outcome would help restructure the education system for sustainable development.
The Secretary to state Government, Mr. Emmanuel Ekuwem said the summit would equip the youths, stakeholders and the public with human capacity development for sustainable growth.
The keynote Speaker, Mr. Aniekan Brown said that sustainable development would only be achieved through education which remained the key to unlock the hidden potentials.
He called on all the stakeholders to collaborate to meet the technology driven age and called for accurate evaluation and measurement of capacity development success and to eradicate all the vices that had bedeviled the education system.