By Tokunbo2
Copyright thesun
From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The Provost of the College of Education Ankpa, Dr Femi Fashagba, has said his students will not be stranded in the labour market after graduation, explaining that they have been adequately trained in modern skill acquisition to be self-reliant and create jobs.
Dr Fashagba, who said the institution now has one of the best acquisition centres in the country with modern equipment and excellent manpower, said every student no matter the course of study must engage in one or two trades so as to be self-reliant and be creators of wealth instead of being job hunters after graduation.
The Provost made this disclosure over the weekend while speaking with newsmen after receiving an award of excellence from the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Kogi State Council, for his “extraordinary performance in transforming the College of Education, Ankpa to an enviable height” in less than nine months in office.
He said the gigantic skill acquisition centre is not only meant to train the students but it is also open to members of the public and corporate bodies who have interest to train their staff in some of his vocational skills.
Trades that can be learned in the skill acquisition centre, he said, are fabrication jobs, automobile work, phone repairs, fashion design, shoe making, brick laying, carpentry, soap making, hair dressing, among others.
The Provost disclosed that the College will soon be a degree-awarding institution as all necessary things have been put in place, but stressed that they were only waiting for the enabling enactment from the State House of Assembly to kick-start the programme.
While saying when he assumed office in January, the institution was in gross darkness with dilapidated structures, he said he has been able to radically transform the institution, providing electricity and industrial borehole water which are uninterrupted for 24 hours for students and staff.
He also said he was able to do a comprehensive renovation of some structures including the provost lodge, staff quarters, lecture halls and carried out complete rehabilitation of the staff school.
The Provost also disclosed that he was able to build enduring peace in the school by banning all forms of antisocial behaviours like cultism, gangsterism, drunkenness and abnormal dressings in the school campus.
He said the school is now well fortified by the school security personnel and vigilante group who monitor activities of students and staff both within and outside the campus.
Fashagba also disclosed that the management of the school now has a robust relationship with the community and other institutions in the State.
He however commended the State Governor, Usman Ododo, for raising College of Education Ankpa to the enviable height it is now saying he couldn’t have achieved anything without the support of the Governor who he said provided funds and other necessary things to move the institution higher.
