The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has said that the rationale behind the establishment of the Ministry of Tertiary Education was to reposition tertiary institutions in the state to produce job creators and successful entrepreneurs.

Governor Ahmed disclosed this on Thursday, in his address at the First Kwara State Tertiary Education Summit, titled “Repositioning Tertiary Education in Kwara State,” held at Banquet Hall of Government House, Ilorin.

Ahmed who spoke through his Deputy at the occasion, Elder Peter Kisira said “unless our tertiary institutions are repositioned through a business and technology-oriented curriculum, the twin malaise of youth unemployment and the general insecurity will remain in our society.

“As part of my administration’s efforts to address this challenge, the Ministry of Tertiary Education was created to specifically focus on the needs of our tertiary institutions and to ensure that their graduates are equipped with the business skills necessary for becoming job creators and successful entrepreneurs.

In furtherance of this objective, the international vocational centre, Ajase-Ipo was established to cater for the middle-level man power needs of our national economy thereby empowering our youths to become productive economic actors.

In addition, my administration will establish technology incubation centers for this institution in each of the three senatorial districts to provide enhanced access to quality vocation training for our youths” the governor added.

While saying that education remains the bedrock of all developmental efforts, Governor Ahmed affirmed that explains why his administration remains unstinting in its drive to sustain and scale up the education reforms introduced by the previous administration to achieve the desired result.

He called on Nigerian youths to be more innovative by taking advantage of advances in information technology and other latent economic opportunities to enhance their livelihoods and that of the country.

Earlier in his welcome address, the state commissioner for Tertiary Education, Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed Lade, said the summit was convened to provide opportunity to education stakeholders to discuss related issues and come up with workable suggestions that would assist government chat the way forward.

“As a new ministry focused specifically on the advancement of tertiary education in the state, it is our hope that your individual and indeed collective contributions would help us to make the difference” the commissioner said.

The commissioner commended Governor Ahmed for his pragmatic approach to salvaging the dwindling future of tertiary institutions in the state.