LEAD DEBATE ON A BILL FOR AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE FEDERAL COLLEGE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SKILL ACQUISITION, IJEBU-IFE, OGUN STATE, AS AN INSTITUTION TO OFFER FULL-TIME COURSES LEADING TO THE AWARD OF NATIONAL CERTIFICATES OF EDUCATION, DIPLOMAS etc, (ESTABLISHMENT BILL, 2021) - AMEBO NEWSPAPERS NG.

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LEAD DEBATE ON A BILL FOR AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE FEDERAL COLLEGE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SKILL ACQUISITION, IJEBU-IFE, OGUN STATE, AS AN INSTITUTION TO OFFER FULL-TIME COURSES LEADING TO THE AWARD OF NATIONAL CERTIFICATES OF EDUCATION, DIPLOMAS etc, (ESTABLISHMENT BILL, 2021)

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Sponsor: 
Rt. Hon. Adesegun Abdel-Majid Adekoya

Mr. Speaker and Distinguished Honorable colleagues, this Bill which I am passionate about has an unprecedented  capacity to produce men and women with entrepreneurial and vocational skills for the new Nigeria that we seek in which skills rather than  academics shall catapult us to a self-sufficient, and a producing economy and no longer a consuming economy that we largely are today. 


WHY THE CHOICE OF IJEBU-IFE, IN OGUN EAST?

As I speak, dear Honorable Colleagues, Ogun East Senatorial District of our dear Country, Nigeria, has NINE (9) Local Government Areas with no presence of any Federal Government tertiary institution. 

The District keeps producing brilliant school leavers, year in year out, with 95% of them drifting to urban centres and Cities for better means of livelihood. So, when this institution is eventually established, it will stop rural-urban migration on the one hand, apart from bringing Federal Government presence to the Senatorial district, for the first time since 1960. 

WHY SEEK THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SKILL ACQUISITION CENTRE?

Today, Mr. Speaker, there are over One hundred and seventy duly accredited universities as of 2021. The figure includes 79 for privately owned, 48 for state owned and 43 owned by the Federal Government. In the same vein, there are a total number of 151 polytechnics in Nigeria. It is also instructive to place on record that we have over 47 federal monotechnic institutions  in Nigeria.

No doubt, these Universities especially those that were established for the purpose of developing our Technology-base, the polytechnics and monotechnics are producing fantastic graduates who are breaking new grounds here and there, but are they all programmed for entrepreneurial or vocational skills so much so that they could add to the value chains which Nigeria is in dire need of?

It is a known fact that we now seek expertise and experts from Senegal, Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic etc for PoP designing, bricklaying, tilling, painting and many more when our young boys and girls who are school leavers keep seeking White-collar jobs that are few and far between. I cannot fantom or even stomach a situation when several years after independence, unconsciously and unknowingly, we are conferring expertrate status on Ghanaians, Senegalese, Togolese or Benenoise who ply their trades in Nigeria when we can produce and encourage similar artisanship capabilities in our people. So, one way to encourage young Nigerians and make those skills available, accessible, and surplus is when there is a school that can offer our young school leavers formal education, train them in those skills and they are certificated as appropriate.

In the last one decade or so, our young undergraduates and even secondary schools students have started to combine formal education with vocational training to acquire skills in:
Cloth making, 
Fashion design, Cosmetology and make-up artistry 
Tying and Dying, 
Paint-making/Painting 
Tilling , 
Pastry and baking, 
Bead making, Soap-making, 
Hairstyling and barber's skills 
Shoemaking
Handsets repairs
Automobile repairs
Computer repairs and Software installation
Livestock farming
Bricklaying
Vocalnizing
Event planning 
Electrical repairs 
Arts and crafts 
Home cleaning 
Disc jockeying 
Website designing/ Computer Operating 
Smithing
Upholstery making
PoP Ceiling Designing 
Food and Nutrition 
Brick Making, and many more, too numerous to capture here. It is so done in view of the fact that after leaving schools, jobs may not be available. Therefore, when this College is established, our children across the country shall have an Institution that can offer them skills and certificates having acquired needed vocations at the school. 

Moreover, it is my fervent belief that as a people, we need to begin to look beyond our BOOKISH SOCIETY and embrace skills which will make our generation next, independent, self-reliant, self-employed and indeed employers of labour. Practical training and knowledge-based engagement will produce the future builders of our economy. 

Finally, Mr. Speaker and my Honorable Colleagues, if we hope to reduce unemployment, which has since created insecurity, crimes and criminalities, fraudulent tendencies and other vices that are making us lose our sleep in our homes, the way to go is through entrepreneurship and vocational skills acquisition which the Federal College of Entrepreneurship and Skill Acquisition, Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State, when established, seeks to provide. 

For me, the more the numbers of vocational skilled entrepreneurs we are able to churn out, the more money there is to be made and kept within the economy and we thereby shut the doors against foreign artisans.

Given the huge national and personal gains or benefits that would greet the establishment of this, one of a kind institution, Mr. Speaker and my dear Honorable Colleagues, I seek your support to allow this Bill to be read the second time.

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