Strong indications have emerged that the Vocational and Technical Laboratories at Egbokodo, Warri South Local Government Area, established in 2005 by the Delta State Government collaboration with the United Nations Development Programm (UNDP) through her agency, the United Nations Office for Project Services, UNOPS as well as SPDC is set to formerly shut down by the end of this month, May 31, following refusal by the Okowa administration to release the State Government’s counterpart funding since assuming office May 29, 2015.
The establishment of the centre by the then Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan administration was to revive the obvious dearth of vocational education in Delta State in particular and the Nation at large, so as to reduce over-dependence on white collar jobs and oil exploration, especially for the teeming youths of Delta State.
In a Save-Our-Soul, SOS petition addressed to the Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, the Comrade Ajagbe Oritsegbegbemi leadership of National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, NAIG stated that the failure of the Delta State government “to meet her counterpart funding obligation since 2015 sadly to note, made the SPDC to pull out of the collaboration during the inception”.
The petition which was signed by Ajagbe Oritsegbegbemi and Ben Eyitemi Eburajolo, President and Secretary of National Association of itsekiri Graduates, appealed to Dr. Okowa to use his “good sense of judgment to immediately look into the issues surrounding the UNOPS Egbokodo in order to forestall the possible closure of the centre”, whose Technical Laboratories and Workshop may not be found in a conventional Nigerian University or Polytechnic.
While noting that premature closure of the ultra modern vocational training centre would give Delta State Government a very negative rating for international donor partners and amount to colossal waste of resources, the Itsekiri graduates urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to direct the management of SEEFOR as well as the Office of the Chief Job Creation Officer of the State to urgently undertake assessment visit to the centre to ascertain the fears of people in the area, especially Itsekiri graduates.
Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa
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