Date: 2012-09-12

Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed on Tuesday flagged off the N1.4 billion International Vocational Center, Ajasse Ipo, with a pledge to establish the state as the hub for technical skills and artisans in the sub-region. Speaking at the occasion, Governor Ahmed said the his administration is resolved to "create a new generation of highly employable artisans and prosperous youth entrepreneurs through the provision of market relevant skills under our Share Prosperity Programme".

According to the Governor, the Centre will, through modernized vocational training, turn Senior Secondary School leavers, Polytechnic and University graduates into well "trained entrepreneurs and artisans ready to create jobs and contribute to our collective prosperity".

Governor Ahmed emphasized that the graduates of the International Vocational Centre who would be awarded globally recognized certificates and diplomas moderated by the London based City and Guilds will, on completion of their courses, be marketable and employable youths while Kwara State will become a reputable hub for vocational and technical skills in West Africa.

Governor Ahmed explained that the State Government consulted widely with the National Employers Consultative Association (NECA) and others in the business community as part of efforts to make the Vocational Centre of World standard.

He added that the centre would run on a good mix of practical and theoretical learning with well-equipped classrooms and practical skill development areas, especially in marine and port operation, agriculture, hospitality, catering as well as engineering, construction skills fashion design and textiles.

Governor Ahmed who said the vocational centre would widen the frontiers of job opportunities recalled that his administration has created job opportunities for over 2,000 youths, absorbed 1,430 into the mainstream of the state civil service and brokered ten thousand public work jobs through the federal government.

The Governor noted that his administration’s youth friendly policies were borne out of the realization that the youths need to be successful economic actors because they constitute over seventy per cent of the population. The Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Saka Onimago in his remarks, assured Kwarans that graduates of the vocational centre would be well-equipped to compete with their counterparts from around the world.