By Dayo  Adesulu

The Chancellor, Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, and the initiator and Director, ‘Skill G’, Chief Gregory Ibe, has stated the need for the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to extend his vision in technology to primary and secondary schools to boost their interest.

The charge came just after the authority of TETFUND sponsored the training of 292 Professors of Engineering and Technology from 73 varsities  to Gregory University for an intense practical training in technology to boost their  performance.

Chancellor, Gregory University, chief Gregory Ibe lecturing students at the institution.

Gregory, who lamented the lack of adequate technical schools,  urged the Minister to establish, at least, one technical school per local government, four vocational centres and a polytechnic.

He maintained that children can only learn when adequate skills are transferred to them through technical and vocational education.

“Unfortunately, we are mostly interested in going to universities. Some graduates are now learning skills after 15 years of leaving school due to joblessness.

“When I was in primary and secondary schools, I learnt various skills which did not hinder my acquiring formal education. I feel that there is need for the informal sector to be a major driver of an economy.

“I teach entrepreneurship and it has taught me that more people are involved in enterprise in every economy than the white collar jobs. The business that I do involves promotion and study of science and technology.

“Having gone round over 600 local governments in designing the need assessment and also in setting up almost 547 skilled centres for the United Nations, I came to a point where I started feeling very bad because our schools have some instructional materials and equipment to study which are normally abandoned. This is why my company Skill G, came on board to be a one-stop shop where you can get any equipment delivered and trained on how to use the equipment.

“Along the line, I decided to set up a varsity were I could fill all the gap I observe in the public varsities. Here,  our students are exposed to the right equipment and facilities.

“One of the challenges is that Nigeria has not yet leveraged on the skill gaps available. We have produced more accountants than those in science and technology.

“At the primary and secondary school needs lots of investment. We don’t want to see a mere beautiful but classroom without facilities. I want to see a very competitive graduate from this institution.