By Olusola Oke
Akure – The Small Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has trained 54 teachers from different primary and secondary schools in Ondo State.
The Director-General of SMEDAN, Dikko Radda, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Akure on Wednesday.
Radda, represented by Mrs Ime Andy, Assistant Director, Strategic Partnership and Liaison Department, said the training was organised in collaboration with Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) in Nigeria.
He said the programme was aimed at training the teachers, who would in turn train some selected students in various schools in the state.
He noted that the programme was targeted at changing the mindset of students on white collar jobs after schooling.
Radda said that the training would deliver more hand on entrepreneurship financial literacy and community service learning across the country.
According to him, it will eliminate unemployment among youths in the country.
The director general said that six states in the federation were selected for the pilot phase and Ondo State was one of them.
According to him, the training will give the teachers enough skill and knowledge that can be imparted on the selected students, who will participate at the regional, national and international competitions.
“With this entrepreneurship training, the students will later be self-reliant.
“We are selecting primary and secondary schools and we are training the teachers with the intention that they will go back and train selected students and pupils.
“The programme, which started on Oct. 23, will last for 10 days and it is concurrently ongoing in other selected states.
“It will make them to think outside the box and make their lives better,” he said.
He added that the teachers were chosen by the Ministry of Education, but the number was pruned by SMEDAN.
Radda said states had a chance to win a prize because through the same programme, SAGE had won eight times since 2005.
Also, Prof. Femi Agagu, the Commissioner for Education, urged the participants to leverage on the programme, which according to him, is a rare opportunity accorded them by the Federal Government through SMEDAN.
Agagu applauded the agency for its initiatives and promised that the state government would definitely key into it and ensure the state turned up the best in the forthcoming tournament.