Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia says skill acquisition and entrepreneurship education remain crucial towards tackling unemployment in Nigeria.
Alia made this known in Abuja when he paid a solidarity visit to the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono.
The governor said that his administration would give education a top priority in Benue as he sought partnership with the fund to boost the quality of tertiary education delivery.
He commended TETFund management for the huge intervention in public tertiary institutions in the state and the nation at large.
Alia said his administration would go back to the table to revitalise education in the state, saying that tertiary institutions in Benue were once known for quality and scholarship.
He said he desired to promote skill acquisition at all levels of education and the informal sector in his state.
He noted that doing this would make the young people become self-reliant and employers of labour.
Responding, Echono described the governor as a man called to rescue Benue.
Echono pledged to support his administration in the efforts possible within the laws of the fund to revitalise tertiary education.
He added that as part of the parting gift of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, the Finance Act 2023 was endorsed with an increase in the country’s education Tax from 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent.
He said the fund was already intervening in about eight to nine public tertiary institutions in Benue, with massive infrastructure development and training of teachers among others.
A courtesy visit to The Executive Secretary, TETFund, Arc. Sunny Echono (right) by the Executive Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia to the Fund Headquarter. pic.twitter.com/H1zGI93vom
— TETFund (@TETFundNg) June 9, 2023
