By Philip Yatai
The Kaduna State Government said on Thursday that it would establish Technology Production Centres in all its technical colleges to further develop the technical skills of students.
Mrs Kande Bage, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, gave this hint in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.
According to her, the effort is to promote skills development, creativity, innovation and invention for self-reliance, and to encourage local production of goods in Nigeria.
Bage, who said that the centres would be equipped with all the needed facilities and equipment to make the project a success, noted that the development would boost the morale of the students.
The permanent secretary expressed optimism that the centres, when established, would encourage the students to produce those things that they know how to produce with ease.
She said that the State Government would ensure that the host communities of these technical colleges as well as government ministries, departments and agencies patronise them.
We were recently at the Technical College, Kajuru; and I can say that I am particularly fascinated by the kind of products the students of the college were producing.
They were fabricating soya beans threshing machines as well as producing folded chairs, tables, beds and so many other fascinating products of high quality.
If they continue with this tempo, I assure you that most of them will become self-reliant.
This will help to eradicate poverty and promote locally made goods, Bage said.
She said that the State Government had distributed tablet computers to the students of the college to encourage technical skills and innovation.
We have so far distributed 15,000 of these computers to 31 boarding schools in the state, as part of the efforts to equip our students with Information and Communication Technology skills, Bage said.
The permanent secretary said that she was at the college to inspect the facilities and to solve a problem in one of the hostels.
Source: NAN