World Bank to spend $3m on Ekiti technical colleges

The World Bank is to spend $3 million on three government technical colleges in Ekiti under the bank’s Innovation and Development Effectiveness for Acquisition of Skills ( IDEAS) programme.

The bank’s Senior Education Specialist, Dr Tunde Adekola, said this at a meeting with Gov. Kayode Fayemi in Ado-Ekiti.

According to Adekola, the IDEAS programme would focus on boosting technical and vocational education skills and would be private sector-driven.

Adekola said the IDEAS initiative would provide training and certification for middle-level manpower that would see technical colleges return to their original mandate.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Yinka Oyebode, said in a statement in Ado-Ekiti that the World Bank team was confident that the programme would succeed because of the full accreditation of the colleges.

The statement quoted Adekola as saying that the World Bank was happy that the five-year programme aligned with the knowledge-based economy being pursued by the Fayemi administration.

It also quoted Fayemi as expressing confidence that the programme would address the deterioration in craftsmanship, saying the government would make technical and vocational education a cardinal goal.

The governor also said his administration would provide the necessary support for the immediate take-off of the IDEAS programme in the colleges.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IDEAS is a World Bank successor programme to SEPIP which was started by Fayemi in November 2013 during his first term.

The programme ensured the establishment of various education-related projects, including the ongoing rehabilitation of the Government Technical College, Ado Ekiti.