Anambra approves training of 500 unemployed youths by Ministry of Science and Technology

In line with its statutory responsibilities, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Mineral Resources, Anambra State held its National Science and Technology (NASTECH) week in Awka, Anambra State capital.

The week commend on the third of February, 2015 with a science quiz competition organized for Secondary Schools at the Community/Education centre in Okpuno and subsequently a workshop/exhibition by schools and institutions at the King David’s Hotel in Awka.

In a welcome address for the occasion, the Commissioner for Science, Technology and Mineral Resources, Mr. Obi Nwankwo said the week is an annual programme aimed at popularizing and promoting science and technology.

According to Mr. Nwankwo, the programme plays an enabling role for the empowerment of young talents and serves as a platform for the promotion of enterprise and industrialization.

He added that it encourages people to transform available natural resources into finished goods and services and encourages the teaching and learning of science subjects.

The commissioner announced that the Science/ETS Quiz was conducted for secondary schools from the six educational zones in the state with certificates and cash prizes given to schools and students as motivation to encourage the study of science subjects.

For the exhibition, Mr. Nwankwo said the occasion affords inventors, innovators, schools and institutions the opportunity to exhibit their ingenuity, creativity, inventiveness, innovativeness, and technological prowess.

In the area of information communication technology, the commissioner said the ministry intend to provide ICT labs in Secondary Schools to enable students in the schools be abreast of global ICT developments.

According to the commissioner, since Anambra State is endowed with numerous mineral resources like kaolin/clay oil, gas pyrites, Ironstone, Sandstone, etc, investors are invited to explore the limitless opportunities and invest towards harnessing the mineral deposits.

He thanked Governor Willy Obiano for his support and his unrelenting drive to make Anambra State a science and technology driven state.

According to the commissioner, the governor has approved that 500 unemployed youths of the state be trained to require skills to enable them become self reliant, thereby reducing unemployment and creating wealth for themselves.

In a paper presentation during the workshop, a resource person from the Department of Environmental Management, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli, Mr. Ikegbunam F.I. said the current material wealth and economic prosperity of the world are the products of Science and Technology.

According to the resource person, the polarization of the world economy and geo-politics today into the first worlds, the second, the third, ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, Dcs and Ldcs, emerging economics and all the descriptive paraphernalia of developmental status connote the level of acquisition and application of scientific and innovation culture.