By Ogenyi Ogenyi, Uyo
The Proprietor, Ibom Metropolitan Polytechnic (IMP), Engr Victor Williams has called on Akwa Ibom State government to partner the institution in driving it’s entrepreneurial and vocational skills initiative.
Williams made the call in an interview shortly after the unveiling of “Entrepreneurial Club’ by the federal government Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) at the school premises in Uyo weekend.
The Proprietor revealed that the institution is training about 1000 indigenes on skill acquisitions such as oil and gas, fabrication, welding, plumbing among others and urged the governor, pastor Umo Eno to assist the trainees by sponsoring their global certification.
Williams who explained that his Polytechnic is already in partnership with the University of Texas petroleum training department as well as the City and Guild of London Vocational Training Centre noted that certification from those international institutions give his trainees and students a leverage to get good employment abroad or in other multinational companies in Nigeria.
He noted that many multinationals value expertise and skills in specialized fields more than University certificates hence the reason his Polytechnic pays premium attention in training its students in skills and vocations which has paved the way for many of them to get juicy offer in oil companies in Nigeria and abroad.
According to him, “We are so concerned in preparing our students with specific training and skills alongside the academic certificates. We want government to sponsor the global certification of the 1000 Akwa Ibom people we are training.
“We don’t need the money. If you train people and give them University of Uyo or Lagos certificate, it will not cross the border, but if you give them the certificate from City and Guild of London Institute, it is recognized in over 150 countries in the world. Most of our students that left Lagos to UK, US have City and guild certificates.
“If state government can do that for them, I will put them in the world employment fora in such a way that if a job comes out, they will be called. As we are suffering unemployment many countries do not suffer it, they are even looking for people that will do the work but you must have the right qualifications.
“We need to prepare our people and equip them with international certification so that they can travel out and bring the foreign exchange. What we want the government to do is to sponsor the international certification, we will support them in offering the free training.”
On his part, the Rector, Engr. Nnamonso Akpabio urged Akwa Ibom State government to partner with the institution by building a three storey Entrepreneurial hub that would accommodate all the training departments in the school.
Akpabio also commended SMEDAN for the choice of the institution to launch the entrepreneurial club and urged the students to maximize the opportunity by taking all that would be taught seriously as such gesture would add a feather to them when they graduate.
The Director General of SMEDAN, Charles Odii represented by the Akwa Ibom State Manager, Lucy Ekpenyong urged the students to be innovative and aspire to launch their products before graduation and promised to support them to have access to mentorship programmes and funding opportunities.
Odili said the essence of inaugurating the club was to empower students with requisite entrepreneurial skills to be self reliant and productive upon graduation.
