The Federal Government has announced that about 40 technical colleges have been listed to benefit from World Bank’s $200million credit facility, to be implemented within the next five years.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, made this known while speaking at a skills acquisition workshop organised by the Federal Government and the World Bank in Makurdi, Benue State.

Adamu said the development was part of measures to reposition Technical Education and reduce the high rate of unemployment in the country.

The workshop under the World Bank-sponsored project ‘Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEALS)’, has the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Board for Technical Education, Abia, Edo, Ekiti, Benue, Gombe, and Kano states  as implementing agencies.

Speaking at the event, Adamu, who was represented by the National Project Coordinator, Mrs Blessing Ogwu, said the essence of the IDEAS project was to address the current deficiencies in the education system which has left many graduates unemployed.

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The minister further urged Nigerian youths to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the project.

A statement issued by the Director Press, Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, on Monday, quoted Adamu as saying: “An estimated 40 Technical colleges in the country, alongside the private sector will benefit from the project which also has a technical teacher training component. A Two Hundred Million Dollar credit facility from the world.”

The Benue State Commissioner for Education, Dr Saawuan Tarnongu, pledged the support and commitment of the state government and people of the state towards the successful implementation of the project.

Tarnongu revealed that Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has approved the recruitment of science and technical teachers as well as the erection of perimeter fences for all the colleges selected for the project in the state as part of commitments to the project.

The state coordinator of IDEAS project, Samuel Kwende, noted that the training of key players in the chain of the implementation process was a prerequisite for the overall success of the project.

The Star