Dame Jonathan Wants Vocational Education For Women

The wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan, recently in Auchi, Edo State, told tertiary institutions in the country to give special attention to women’s vocational education.

The first lady who spoke at the 20th convocation ceremony of Auchi Polytechnic, said this was the only way to unlock the potential of women in technology and engineering.

Represented by the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Maina, the first lady stressed the need to encourage the girl-child.

“The girl-child should be deliberately encouraged and supported to take active careers in technology, engineering and vocational education. “This is so because the future is technical education”, he said.

The first lady, who was honoured with the polytechnic’s fellowship award, commended the polytechnic for the achievements recorded in the school.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, said the Federal Government was putting effective policies in place to enhance the use of information and communications technology.

She said that challenges posed by bandwidth availability in the country were also being addressed.

Represented by Dr. Maasu’d Kazairue, the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the minister advised tertiary institutions to prioritise their projects.

“As efforts are geared towards improved funding by the government, the fund managers should ensure prudence in the utilisation of funds through proper prioritisation of projects”, she said.

The Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Philipa Idogho, said the management of the polytechnic had in the last four years deliberately put in place, policies and programmes aimed at ensuring high academic standards.