Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Professor Aiah Gbakima, said that because of the massive skills gap that he inherited, the government decided to operationalise ten technical-vocational institutes with plans for more in other parts of the country. He said that his ministry was grateful to the President for the support and also expressed appreciation to the Ministry of Finance for their effective collaboration on the project.

In his keynote address, President Bio said that he was pleased to commission the institute as part of his government’s promise to increase access to technical vocational education in the country, adding that the project was part of his government’s human capital development agenda.

He said that he wanted to train a highly-skilled workforce that would trigger off local entrepreneurship and job creation for youth, regardless of gender. He noted that to that end his government had sought to review the Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) curriculum and build national apprenticeships and internships into the programmes.

“Our national policy on TVETs aligns with several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – providing quality education, decent work and economic growth, and, industry, innovation and infrastructure. It is also a key enabler for a number of other goals,” he said.

He also expressed hope that they could train a skilled labour force that would serve in agriculture and agribusiness, tourism and hospitality, fisheries and marine resources, engineering and infrastructure, mining, small-scale manufacturing services and information communication technology.