Entrepreneurship Education has been described as a pivot which develops in students an enterprise mindset, creativity, innovation and business idea generation and creates in them the passion to start small businesses after school.
Jude Ezeigbo, chairman, National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria, Abia State chapter, made the assertion at Ibeku High School playground, during the 2017 All Secondary Schools Arts and Cultural Festival/Entrepreneurial Award ceremony.
Ezeigbo urged well-to-do Nigerians to invest their wealth in education, as it was the highest/best investment one could embark upon in life.
He encouraged parents, teachers, government officials and other stakeholders to sustain the aims and objectives of education through innovation and diversification of school curriculum for the overall development of the child.
“From next academic year, the association would introduce another award tagged NAPTAN Award for Entrepreneurship. This is because entrepreneurship is very relevant today, given the unemployment challenges that we face in the state and the country. Also entrepreneurship education if well implemented would provide solution to the menace of youth restiveness and unemployment in the state and the country,” he said.
He commended the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for ensuring the existence of a conducive learning environment across the state and applauded the commissioner for education, Ikechi Mgboji, for his thoughtful idea of the programme “Education for Employment” which, he said, had opened a new window of opportunity for all Abians to excel in their educational pursuits.
Ndubuisi Umezuruike, executive secretary, Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB), in his welcome address vowed that the board would continue to create an even more outstanding school experience for talented students to foster creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and reasoning.
“This event is not only geared towards giving Abia youths a voice and a place in the national youth development, empowerment and entrepreneurial programmes, but the board, being mindful of the current national and international trend in education, that is education centered around producing individuals who are job creators and not job seekers, therefore laid emphasis on this year’s celebration on what the students can produce by themselves,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, B. A. Kalu, chairman of the occasion, said the theme of the event, “Sustaining Excellence”, was apt considering the numerous achievements recorded by SEMB.
Kalu, who is also Abia State president of All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), added that the event would no doubt expose and harness the rich cultural and entrepreneurial potentials of students which appeared to have been hidden before now.
Interacting with newsmen, Newton Kalu Nnaji, CEO of KASCO G. Event, the company in partnership with the MOE/SEMB for the event, pointed out that the event was created to encourage the Igbo, especially students, to embrace the cultural heritage of the nation.
He further said that the event was designed to create entrepreneurial skill in Nigerian students to be better equipped in the future.
Chinedu Orji, member representing Umuahia Central constituency in the state House of Assembly, was honoured during the event with Entrepreneurial Merit Award in Youth Empowerment.
Emma Nwabuko, principal secretary to the Abia State governor, and Ndubuisi Umezuruike, SEMB executive secretary, were honoured with Entrepreneurial Merit Award in Administration, while Henry Ikoh, state commissioner for industry, and Ifeanyi Anod received Entrepreneurial Merit Award in Entrepreneurship.
The event witnessed the distribution of 1,500 customised exercise books to 24 selected public secondary schools in the state courtesy of NAPTAN, and also featured art/craft exhibitions, cultural dance, and debate in Igbo language.
UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia
