Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The newly inaugurated ESPOLY Business and Innovation School by the Enugu State Polytechnic will become innovation and Information Communication Technology (ICT) hub for Nigerians.
The Executive Director of the school, Mr Roland Ediawe, said this at the official inauguration of the school in Enugu.
ESPOLY is located at the former Enugu State University of Science and Technology AC building.
He said that the school was focusing on entrepreneurship development, ICT training and Vocational and Technical Studies for students.
He said they would partner with India and European countries on ICT, stressing that India became what they were today because of the expertise in ICT.
Ediawe added they would also organise a boot-camp for secondary school students that would expose them early enough to technology.
According to him, the school is based on Public Private Partnership between Enugu State Polytechnic and a firm, Preziko Investment Limited, to create a training hub in Enugu for Nigerians.
“The idea of the initiative is that the world is moving towards technological driving and we also discovered the skill needs for modern business are lacking among the graduates, artisans and informal sector.
“This school is developed to bridge that gap, train the existing business owners on how best to manage their businesses, leveraging on modern technology and prepare graduates on challenges of modern day employment market,” Ediawe said.
The executive director added that the school would begin its academic activities in May with selected courses.
Earlier, the Rector of the Polytechnic, Rev. Fr. Nnamdi Nwankwo, said the polytechnic was supposed to be for skilled and technical workers and as such, every polytechnic ought have business schools.
He said the school was very essential for the existence of their polytechnic which was directly built on skill acquisition.
“With this, Enugu State will have all the skill acquisition for the development of the state.
“Mr Ediawe brought the idea and we accepted it with memorandum of understanding in partnership with the school.
“We will issue them certificate while the school will provide the skill,” the rector said.
He added that the graduates of the school would bear the certificate of Enugu State Polytechnic, while “our partner will impact them with the required knowledge.”
