By Our Correspondent
Cross River Students in tertiary institutions have been told to maximise opportunities provided by the Enterprise Development Center (EDC) Calabar so as to be armed with strategic knowledge and training critical to their wellbeing.
Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, Hon John Gaul Lebo gave the charge in Calabar recently when he received executives of the National Association of Cross River State Students (NACRISS) who had paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
Hon Lebo maintained that the EDC played a vital role in helping to shape the future of the students by equipping them with basic training or skill required to excel in life after school, disclosing that the society was fast becoming knowledge driven hence students must seek relevant training to be able to acquire key knowledge that would help shape their future.
The Speaker hinted that the Assembly had agreed that members would grant scholarships to student constituents to acquire special skills at the Enterprise Development Center to enable them compete favorably in the global market, adding that students needed additional knowledge aside ones obtained in the school to be self-reliant.
He stressed the need for educational reforms that would transform schools from academic centers to training centers as many graduates today are theoretically inclined instead of practically inclined because of the inclination of Nigerian schools to theory.
Speaking, the member representing Ogoja State Constituency in the Cross River State House Assembly and the House Committee Chairman on Due Process, MDGs, International Donor Support and Inter Governmental/Public Affairs, Hon Peter Odey advised the student against social vices which he said could ruin their dreams, adding that students should endeavor to seek leadership development training which according to him would help to instill discipline and responsibility in the them.
In his remarks, the President of the National Association of Cross River State Students (NACRISS WW) Comrade Marshal Ukey highlighted the challenges faced by Cross River Students in tertiary institutions, calling on the Speaker to intervene especially in the area of bursary to the students by the state government.