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THE Federal Ministry of Education has said that youths with high skills will solve the problems of unemployment, insecurity and youth restiveness.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr David Adejo, disclosed this on Tuesday.
He said this at an Exhibition and Award ceremony of the 1st Edition of Polytechnics and Innovation Enterprise Institutions (POINTER) competition among students in the Polytechnics and Innovation Enterprise Institutions in Abuja.
Adejo, who was represented by the Director, Special Duties in the ministry, Mr Zubairu Abdullahi, said that building highly skilled youths would enable them to be entrepreneurs, job and wealth creators.
Adejo said the ministry introduced the ‘POINTER Competition’ to students of polytechnics and innovation enterprise institutions, in order for undergraduates to showcase their talents, skills and creativities in Science and Technology endeavors for national development.
” POINTER which is an initiative of the ministry develop innovative skills which is not merely a function of the mind, but also a function of key behaviour’s that optimise the youths brains for discovery.
” It is pertinent to mention that science and technology is essential and remains the tool for rapid development of any successful economy.
” Villages were developed into towns and towns to cities and expanding to greater horizons. This expansion has occurred through the benefits of science and technology over the years and more are still on their way.
“Countries which have a strong base in science and technology are the ones that developed faster. Examples of such countries are Asian tigers like Singapore, Japan, Korea, China and more,” he said.
He said the competition was important so as to groom Engineering, Science and Technology students to develop cutting edge skills to meet national man power need and for global competitiveness.
He added that it would also encourage the students to believe in hard work, talents and creativity as an added impetus for wealth creation.
According to him, the competition will challenge students to design innovative technology-based projects for commercial or entrepreneurial purposes or as small business Innovation research purposes.
Meanwhile, Olawale Yussuff, a student of Computer Engineering Technology Department, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, who came top in the competition said he worked on an automated solar tracking systems capable of tracking the sun and also increase the efficiency of the solar panel system.
Yussuff said the project was incorporated with the areas of some sensors and some other components which have the capacity to rotate in the sun.
Also, Aliyu Abubakar, a Mechanical Engineering student of the Federal Polytechnics, Idah, who came second said it took a lot of commitment and consistency to showcase one’s ability .
In the same vein, Obinna Joseph, a Student Electrical Electronics Engineering from the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, who produced an air drone, came third in the competition.
Joseph said the air drone has a lot of applications for its operations and it could travel as far as two kilometres in the air. (NAN)
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Tags: David Adejo Olawale Yussuff POINTER Zubairu Abdullahi
