Commissioning Of International Vocational Training & Entrepreneurship College (IVTEC) Ajase-Ipo, Kwara State On 21/11/2017

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REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, THE VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE COMMISSIONING OF THE INTERNATIONAL VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP COLLEGE, (IVTEC) AJASE-IPO, KWARA STATE ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2017

I am extremely pleased to be here to join you in this very joyful event of the commissioning of the IVTEC, Ajase-Ipo (International Vocational Training and Entrepreneurship College).

First, let me congratulate my dear brother, the Governor of Kwara State, His Excellency, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed.  I must commend the Maigida Kwara because I think he has truly shown that he is the true Maigida Kwara.

In my opinion, this is one of the most important projects that any government can undertake.  I say so because, if you recall, in 2016, Mr. President said that it is time for us as a nation to produce all of the things that we consume and to grow what we eat.

But there is no way we can produce what we consume unless we have an industrial base.  We cannot industrialize in such a way as to produce every single thing, but one thing that is clear is that there is so much that we can produce locally and there is so much local talent that is available.

I believe that one of the very important reasons why this project that we must see replicated across the country is because it takes into account that very important feature of our lives as Nigerians, that very important attribute of Nigerians.  We have the most talented young people anywhere in the world.  Our young people are talented; they are ready to learn and they are prepared to be entrepreneurial and they are extremely aggressive in trade and commerce.

Anywhere you find a Nigerian young man or woman you also find a person who is prepared to work, a person who is prepared produce.  Across West Africa, in fact across Africa, practically anywhere in the world, when you come across a Nigerian young person, he is very evident.  He is different from everybody else.  He is driven.  He is entrepreneurial.  He is dynamic and he wants to achieve things.  And I think it is so important to tap this particular attribute of the Nigerian youth, especially the Nigerian youth.  And this project is one that would do so excellently and would bring about some of the greatest changes we see in our nation.

When you look around you and just listening to what His Excellency, The Governor had to say, there is no reason at all why we should be importing tilers, electricians, construction workers, builders from Togo and the Benin Republic and other West African countries;  absolutely, no reason.

We have the talents here; we have the people here.  And we have all that it takes to be able to do all of those things.  What we lacked in the past is well equipped vocational and entrepreneurial centres such as we have here today.

We have some scattered all over the country but not being well equipped and having a programme that will work, a programme tailored towards the existing talents and tailored towards the existing needs of the young people and of course towards the existing needs of the society at large.  I am very pleased to see that this particular programme and curriculum of the IVTEC is one that is tailored towards the exact needs of the society.

If you look around today, we have so many building sites, we have air-conditioning needs and requirements in all of the different estates that we build.  The question is how to find the right type of skills and how to train the right type of skills.  But not just to train the right type of skills locally but to give them international certification so that wherever they go they can work in any part of the world.

I think that what the government of Kwara State has done under the visionary leadership of the governor is that they have partnered with the right types of organizations that will ensure that the certification of young people who attend IVTEC will be the right type, a saleable, marketable certification.

So, I am pleased to see that the college is partnering with the Wolverhampton College, with Alfred State College and with the City and Guilds. The kind of certification that will emerge from here is an internationally accepted certification.  Of course, it is not for the good of those who are trained here but also for the quality of what is eventually turned out.  This will benefit our country greatly.

I want to say that the Federal Government is fully in support of the Kwara State government and would provide what requirement there are to ensure that this project not only succeeds but is replicated not only here in Kwara State but elsewhere.

One of the important problems that we frequently have with technically trained persons and with entrepreneurship skills and all that is how to ensure that they are funded; how to ensure first that they find jobs and also that they are funded and that they have adequate financing for the various things that they want to do.

One of the reasons why we are here in Kwara State today is to attend to some of the programmes of the SMEs.  We have an MSME clinic, which is basically a clinic for small and medium scale enterprises.  And what we do in these clinics is that we bring some of the regulatory authorities here.

So, today we have brought the Bank of Industry, we brought the Corporate Affairs Commission; We have brought NIPC, we brought the Nigerian Export Promotion Council and several other regulatory authorities and several organizations concerned with industry, export and trade. The whole idea is to bring them in contact with those who are doing the work, in contact with Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.  That’s what we are doing in Kwara today.

When we leave here we are going to be attending those clinics so that the small and medium scale enterprise gets to meet with regulatory authorities.  Some people complain: we can’t get funds.  When we start our businesses we can’t continue; we can’t get funds. Today, they will be meeting with the Bank of Industry. They will also be meeting with the coordinators of the GEEP project.

The GEEP project is a micro-credit project for small-scale businesses and also for artisans and some of those who possibly will be trained here and who will graduate from IVTEC.

So we are bringing them to meet with these people so that they can understand what their problems are.  We have told the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Bank of Industry, NAFDAC and all of these organizations that we want them to facilitate small business. What we are interested in is that they must not be obstacles to small business. They must be facilitators of business.

All the young people who are looking for opportunities, looking for jobs, looking for possible financing, we want to ensure that they are able to get that financing, able to get those opportunities. And so, this for us is a very important moment and very important project.

I want to congratulate you and rejoice especially with the people of Ajase-Ipo community because this is a great blessing to this community.  I want to congratulate Kabiyesi in particular that what you are seeing here today is the beginning of great progress for your community and the beginning of great progress for your community; the beginning of great progress for your young people here and I believe the beginning of great progress for Kwara State as a whole.

Every state needs to copy what is going on here and we will be passing on this message all across the country that we must all provide this type of facility for our young people.

Thank you very much.