By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Akwa Ibom State, Comrade Ini Ememobong has explained that governor Udom Emmanuel’s conscious efforts at industralizing the state is aimed at job creation and fighting against poverty.
Noting the governor’s stride in these direction of human empowerment, Ememobong said that he has succeeded in boosting the economy of the State through job creation.
The Information Commissioner disclosed this on Friday during a tour of projects with journalists across the state.
He added that the governor in his avowed attempt to create jobs for the teeming youths engaged humans to perform some tasks, machines can do in some of the industries.
Buttressing his point, the Commissioner said, with mechanization introduced to industrialization, the Governor consciously designed a human interface into it, some things machines can handle, he employed the youth to be doing them so as to engage them on gainful employment.
He said the present government drew up the 10-year road map to avoid policy inconsistency in near future and to sustain growth in the education sector.
He noted that Governor Emmanuel in an attempt not to have distorted development in education, declared an emergency in education where he convened education summit that set up a think tank which came up with the ten year road map.
Ememobong further noted that the state government made the road map non partisan such that members of the opposition party and other stakeholders in the education sectors were among the think tank that drew it which would run for ten years.
According to the commissioner, “In 2019 the government of the day convened an education summit and set up think tank whose duty was to draw up a ten year road map for education because the problem in Nigeria is policy inconsistency, every policy takes coloration and complexion of the person who makes it. We don’t want to have distorted development in education.
“For us here we decided to have a ten year education road map. To make sure it is non partisan, we made sure that members of the opposition were there; Education stakeholders were there also. We later realized there were issues in education.
“We were having issues in personnel, in infrastructure and in curriculum. The ten-year-plan incldued that we did research to the point that the ratio gap of students-teachers was alarming.”
The Commissioner explained that having discovered the deficit in educational sector in the state, the governor directed for the recruitment of both primary and secondary teachers as well as building of infrastructures in schools accross the state.
The Commissioner who added that the governor has been consistent in the payment of WAEC fees which runs in tune of over N800 Million regretted that the state government has no influence over curriculum
He said, “His Excellency immediately directed that the deficit should be reduced by recruiting teachers: 1000 teachers were taken for primary school and 1000 for the secondary school because the teachers, students ratio was unbelievable remembering the fact most of the teachers were retiring,
“In terms of infrastructure, he declared emergency in education, WAEC fees are free and it runs into over 800 Million Naira every year. The focus on education has been consistent and we have been following that plan, but the challenge with that plan is that the determination of curriculum is not the business of the state government.”
He, however, noted that both the Akwa Ibom State university and the schools of nursing and health technology have full accreditation.
Akwa Ibom State University has full accreditation and it has a fully digitized studio for the communications department. All our schools of nursing and health technology before lost their accreditation but now have regained their accreditation, and are prepared to produce their graduates.
