Kwara International Vocational College: World Bank to Sponsor 17,000 Students

By Steve Oni, Ilorin
The Kwara state governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed has disclosed that the World Bank would sponsor 17,000 people to acquire technical expertise at the International Vocational, Technical and Entrepreneurership College (IVEC), in the state.
The vocational institute cited at Ajase-Ipo in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara state was floated by the state government for training and acquisition of technical skills to promote self employment and job creation in the state and country at large.
The school which is affiliated to City and Guilds institute in London took off recently with its tuition fixed at about N400, 000.
The governor while featuring at a periodic programme tagged “Governor Explains” aired by radio stations in the state said the World Bank would be one of the sponsors that would fund training of students in the school to make many who may not be able to afford payment of the tuition to attend the school
Ahmed who said that the school could only admit 125 students maximally per annum explained that the World Bank would carry out its sponsorship programme in bits and across years.
He said that the state government would be a sponsor and that corporate bodies and private individuals are also among others expected to sponsor students at the school.
The governor explained that the state government would sponsor five students from each of the 16 local government areas in the state making 80 people to be sponsored annually by the government.
He said students of the school would be exposed to practical training that would equip them with skills that would enable them to start work without any other round of training elsewhere immediately after their graduation and that with the involvement of City and Guilds, they would be awarded an internationally recognised certificate.
Speaking on the problem of salary of local government workers the governor reiterated that a lasting solution to the problem would be that a way of improving revenue of the local governments is found.
He said the problem was aggravated by the reduction in the monthly allocation accruing to local governments from the federation account as the allocation is the major source of revenue for the governments.
Ahmed explained that the recent Paris Club Refund to the state government had been captured in the 2018 budget proposal.
He said this was so because the governors demanded for the refund from the federal government so that they could include it in their budget for the year.