Nigeria must prepare for post-oil years now — Kwara gov

Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara state has said Nigeria must prepare adequately to survive in the post-oil years which he said could be nearer than expected.

Speaking at the 26th Convocation ceremony of the Kwara State Polytechnic in Ilorin on Thursday, the governor called for better attention to technical education, agriculture and enterprise.

“The whole world is preparing for post-oil years and this means we must consciously wean ourselves off the unhelpful addiction to the oil wealth. We must promote skills acquisition, agribusiness, and enterprise,” he said.

The governor was represented at the event by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Mamman Saba Jibril.

He described as lacking depth, earlier suggestions that Nigeria should scrap Polytechnic education, saying that the coming post-oil years open the window for institutions offering technical education to redirect the country to the path of sustainable growth and self-reliance.

“Kwara under us will promote agribusiness, skills acquisition, private initiatives and local technological inventions.

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“Among other plans, the ongoing process to renovate the Kwara State Library, equip it with fast internet facilities for e-learning, and make it the launchpad for our innovation hub is a step in this direction and we will follow it through, God willing. We will support technological inventions, especially from our own institutions, that would help to strengthen our agricultural value chain.

“This message is for the Kwara State Polytechnic and other technical institutions as it is for the lucky graduands. Dear graduands, I want you to imagine a future without petrol dollars or a future where robots would take over most of the jobs now handled by humans. This is why the entrepreneurial and technical skills you are taught here are very important.

“We are heading to a time when the 9-5 job cycle will either go out of fashion or would not be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century. So, I appeal to you to buckle down as you get set to face the world outside of the four walls of your schools. I urge you to consider becoming job providers rather than job seekers.”

Also speaking, rector of the polytechnic, Engineer Dr Abdul Muhammed, asked the state government to pay counterpart fund for the TETFUND programme to enable the institution to witness greater infrastructural development.

He also called for the return of monthly subvention to the institution, saying that poor funding had made the polytechnic to lose its good hands to sister polytechnics in Ede, Idah and Offa in search of greener pasture.