EKOEXCEL: We’ll Continue Massive Investments in Education Sector - Sanwo-Olu

AgegePulse Magazine

...Lagos Graduates Teachers In Professional And Training Programme

...Gov Promises Car Gifts To Best Primary School Teachers

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Saturday reaffirmed his administration's plan to transform the educational sector of the State, vowing to increase government's investment for the good of the pupils.

Over 3000 teachers from various schools and education districts across the State converged at De Blue Roof of the Lagos Television, Ikeja where the Governor formally launched the EKOEXCEL, a teachers’ professional development and training programme.

Earlier, primary school teachers went through a 2 weeks training process, organised by the State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) to increase capacity and develop manpower of teachers in the State.

Sanwo-olu noted that at the end, over 14,000 primary school teachers would have benefited from the initiative while over 500,000 pupils would have been positively impacted.

The Governor said: “I am particularly happy that this programme is holding at a time when all hands are on deck to ensure that the quality of teaching and learning is improved across all our schools in the State.

“As a responsible government, we will continue the massive investment in this sector, with the training and retraining of our teachers, making the sector more ICT compliant, exposing our teachers to international best practices as well as ensuring that our schools become a destination for work and learning.

“We resolved to address these problems through combining innovative technological approach that is scientifically based, with effective training and empowering our teachers in every Local Government to strengthen their capacity and deliver quality education to our children.”

The Governor, in a bid to encourage teachers and make good examples from outstanding ones, said the State Government will identify the best Head Teachers in all the 20 LGs and 37 LCDAs and reward them with a car each.

He noted that his administration is not paying lip service to the repositioning of the educational sector, noting that it is the reason the education ministry got a significantly higher envelope in the 2020 budget.

The Governor also promised that teachers will undergo free sight assessment and reading glasses will be provided for every teacher that requires it to be able to discharge their duties effectively.

EKOEXCEL, which is Excellence in Child Learning and Education Programme is a Lagos State primary education transformation initiative.

With the EKOEXCEL Programme, over 14,000 Head Teachers and teachers will be moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curriculum. Over 3,000 primary school teachers from 300 public primary schools have been captured under the Pilot Scheme.

An initiative of the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration, the EKOEXCEL is aimed at developing a highly-skilled teaching workforce by training, supporting and motivating Lagos State teachers to succeed in the classroom of tomorrow and enhance the State Basic Education curriculum thereby empowering children to compete effectively in the world of work.

The programme will equip teachers with skills to deliver value, empower pupils with requisite knowledge to improve education and help in sustaining the growth of Lagos State as a leading knowledge driven city and economy in the world.

Ambode canvasses patronage of made in NIgeria products for MSME growth

AgegePulse Magazine

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has underscored the need to increase patronage of locally made products and also expand the capacity of Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the State, assuring that his administration will continue to pay greater attention to the sector.

 The Governor who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Dr. Olajide Bashorun, made this known during the Lagos Small Business Summit held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.

 He described the theme of the summit "Creating exponential institutions: how government and small businesses can keep up with the market" as very apt considering the need for effective partnership between government institutions and the organized stakeholders in Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs.

 Governor Ambode explained that the summit throws a challenge to all players, both public and private, to look inwards and develop the internal and external capacities of other sectors for steady growth and global competitiveness.

 While making case for the informal sector, Ambode said "we must significantly reduce our taste for foreign-made goods because it is detrimental to the survival and growth of SMEs and their capacity to create wealth and generate employment for our teeming unemployed youths.

 He listed several incentives provided to operators of SMEs under the present administration, saying that tradesmen and artisans in different vocations recently completed a training programme organized by the State Government to further enhance their capacity.

 "During the celebration of the 2017 Day for artisans and tradesmen few weeks back, I directed the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the State Government to henceforth, accord greater recognition to members of the informal sector in terms of increasing patronage for the products of SMEs in line with the State's 'Buy Made in Nigeria Campaign' ‘’the Governor stated.

 He added that the State government had also resolved to engage the services of small and medium scale artisans in the execution of government contracts.

 According to him, the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment was established by the current administration to implement policies aimed at enhancing the capacity of SMEs to harness their contribution to economic growth and development.

 He also said that the Employment Trust Fund was set up to address the challenge of lack of access to funding, stressing that the responses from applicants of the initiative show that young people are willing to take advantage of opportunities when given.

 "As we speak, over N3.5billion Naira has been disbursed to over 6,000 beneficiaries who are at different stages of executing their businesses plan” he stated.

 He assured participants at the summit that government will continue to promote opportunities for MSMEs to thrive by focusing on the development of infrastructure and its processes to improve and enhance the competitiveness and productivity of MSMEs in the State.

 Also speaking at the event, the Chairman, Planning Committee of the 2017 SME 100 Nigeria, Lagos Small Business Summit, Mr. Tope Adekoya commended the Governor for prioritizing the development of small businesses and for his willingness to help these businesses thrive.

 He explained that the idea of bringing all relevant stakeholders together at the Summit is basically to foster discussions on how to build a more successful, industrious and entrepreneurial State.