Youth unemployment: Ambode approves 3 additional technical colleges

Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has approved the immediate establishment of additional three Technical Colleges for the state, a development that has increased the number of Technical and Vocational Colleges in the state from five to eight.

The Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, disclosed this on Monday while speaking at the year 2016 and 2017 graduation ceremony
of the five Technical Colleges held at  Agidingbi, Ikeja.

A total 1, 324 students graduated from the five Technical Colleges.

Adebule disclosed that the three new Technical Colleges proposed to be sited at Alimosho, Ibeju and Badagry would further help develop the youth and unemployed graduates to acquire new skills and also offer an opportunity that would help them to create jobs and be self-reliant.

The deputy governor, while noting that technical and vocational skills were crucial to achieving self-reliance and sustainable economic growth under the present economic recession, stated that the state government had invested heavily in the development of technical and vocational education due to the recognition it accorded it.

She said the state government also undertook such investment because of  the need to explore and exploit the positive impact of technical and vocational education in the production of high-quality technical skills for the provision of quality services and development on the state and the country in general.

“The fact remains that the best way by which we can help create employment opportunities, stimulate economic growth in our state and nation and alleviate poverty is to equip our youths with skills by which they can use in creating jobs for themselves and become self-reliant,” Adebule stated.

While congratulating the graduating students from the five Technical Colleges, the deputy governor urged them to justify government huge investment in technical and vocational education by maximizing the training they received to impact on good service delivery and economic fortune of the state.

Adebule, while further justifying the reason for focusing on technical and vocational education as a strategy for economic growth, disclosed that reliable findings indicated that Lagos State had the nation’s highest population of people less than 25 years of age at present.

According to her, by 2025, the state will be home to around 20 percent of the nation’s population aged 24 and under, saying the implication of this findings was that government must be ready to create jobs every year for the next two decades in order to be able to arrest social unrest and youth restiveness.

“Equipping students and workers with the right skills is the first step towards creating more jobs and better jobs with stronger skills, better career
prospects and academic progression,” she added.

She said aside the existing five Technical Colleges and the newly approved three others, the state also had 53 vocational training and skills acquisition centres where youths, housewives and the army of unemployed graduates had been placed on regular  training for one skill or the other, adding  that  the Lagos State Empowerment Trust Fund (LSETF) was also created to encourage youths with skills to have access to loans with which they can use to open  their businesses.

Earlier in her welcome address, Chairman, Technical and Vocational
Education Board, Mrs Omolara Erogbogbo, charged the new graduands to maximize the full advantage of technology in their various areas of specializations to render quality services to the people and create wealth.

She stated that it was in the realization of the technical and vocational education to economic recovery that compelled the state government to  make a huge investment in the area.

She further urged the graduating students to use their acquired knowledge and skills to bring positive changes to the economy of the state and the nation in general.

The event was well attended by top government functionaries, parents and relatives of the graduands and  members of the academic
communities.