Cross River Governor, Liyel Imoke, has tasked teachers of technical education in the state to key into an educational vision that would enable them to meet current market demands.
He gave the charge on Thursday in Calabar while declaring open a technical capacity building “Train the Trainers” workshop organized by the state in conjunction with Highbury College, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
Imoke noted that technical education was low in the state, hence the collaboration with a foreign institution.
He added that the only way out was to collaborate with those who have the technical knowhow to get it right.
He said, “In order to actualise our vision, we found partnership with Highbury College, because we cannot continue to churn out unemployable graduates unless the system is corrected. You have to know it to understand the value and transfer it to students.
“You must buy into the training and hold onto it and cascade it to the community who will then take over ownership to get the expected result.
The state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Offiong Offiong, described the workshop as the first leg of the commencement of collaboration between the state and Highbury College to strengthen education.
He said the participants were the core beneficiaries who in turn would train others.
The African Regional director of Highbury College, Portsmouth, Mrs Joy Okadigbo, noted that Nigeria could only become one of the fastest growing economies in the world by 2020 if its educational programme was fixed right.
She added that Cross River could be above others if it sets its educational programme to meet industrial needs.
Okadigbo said this could only be achieved through capacity building and not through building of physical structure.
