At one of the Exhibition stands.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, has challenged aspiring entrepreneurs and stakeholders in the education sector to toe the line of the German government in their approach to the process of upgrading our citadels of learning.

Prof. Oyewole threw up the challenge during the flag-off of the 8-week intensive skill acquisition training, organised by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies (CENTS) of the University. The Vice-Chancellor recommended the German model where all polytechnics were converted into universities.

He expressed optimism that such conversion will afford the participants the impetus to acquire first-hand-skills required in their various fields of specialization, while commending CENTS for the steps taken in ensuring that students or graduates of FUNAAB were equipped with additional skills that will stand them out among their peers after graduation.

The Vice-Chancellor declared that the training will afford the trainees the “ability to keep on learning”, enhance their “skills of learning new things” and afford them the “skills of communicating and relating with people” as he called on students and parents to take the advantage of the long vacation as an opportunity to learn.

He urged the people to believe in the certificates issued by Nigerian Universities. He said “our certificate is not worthless, if you have knowledge and it is not applied, it becomes useless, what we are doing is to ensure that the certificate of FUNAAB is different from others”, as he charged the trainers to challenge their students and make the best out of them.

The Vice-Chancellor lauded the skill leaders’ passion to impact knowledge on their trainees and hoped that a “time will come when people will struggle to gain admission into FUNAAB not because of the academic qualification alone, but because of the skills to be acquired”.

He enjoined the skill leaders to feel free to exhibit what they had as CENTS is open to all of them.

Speaking earlier, the Director, CENTS, Prof. Olufemi Onifade, thanked the University Management for its support and informed that the skills acquisition programme will be the first to be organised since CENTS was established in 2011.

While appreciating the skill leaders and trainees, he informed that the idea of skill acquisition in the various higher institutions of learning was at the instance of the Federal Government. This he noted, was in line with a line in the University anthem which describes FUNAAB as a “school of learning, science and skills”.

Various participants and skill leaders expressed their gratitude to the University for the training and encouraged the University to keep it up by ensuring that all FUNAAB students learn new vocations before graduating as they promised to give their best to the training.

The various skills available include fashion designing, automation and fabrication, clothing and textile, events management, hotel management, construction/plumbing, fish farming, forex trading and shoe making.

Others are poultry production/hatchery, furniture making, jewellery making; creche management and Web design among others.