The Delta State Commissioner for Technical Education, Hon. Smart Ijeoma Ufoh, last weekend presented his ministry’s 2025 Budget before the ongoing Interministerial Budget Committee organized by the Ministry of Economic Planning in Asaba.
Ufoh noted that it was challenging being his first time presenting Budget and the anxiety and others.
He commended his team that works tirelessly before they came out with the blueprint which was the budget estimate for 2025.
Ufoh, who noted that though his Ministry has performed very well despite challenges, pledged to improve on the achievements of his predecessors to see that the Ministry of Technical Education served the purpose it was created for especially now that technology is ruling the world.
The Commissioner pointed out that Budget was a mere proposal until it gets approval from the State Government. Noting that after the Budget presentation and defense comes the real work and fight for approval and if there is no approval for your ministry, the budget will just be laid down, which means there is no power to execute or perform, and by the end of the year, you will be rated by your percentage performance.
While revealing his plans to modernize technical education across Delta State, Ufoh noted that “Based on what we have on the ground and what I have met, we have nine technical colleges, and out of this, we are constructing five as modern because we are done with three among the schools. We have three technical colleges that have taken on. Say the difference is that Technical is of the old type, but the model is where the world is going. Model is where we have vocational studies, workshops, and equipment where we can construct things with sophisticated equipment.
“If you have seen the new model School in Asaba, you will see the structures just like a mini university. So it is very convenient for parents to send their children to occupy and attend this kind of school, leaving the old kind of technical education or colleges. So, presently, we have three colleges going on, and Omadino is one of the Model Technical Schools that we will be commissioning this December by His Excellency, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.”
He said the goal was to eventually upgrade all existing technical colleges to modern facilities. “Model technical colleges are where the new approach to technical studies is. The other ones that are there as technical colleges, not models, are of the old type. There are plans for the ministry to upgrade those so that by the end of the day, we would be able to have each of the Model technical colleges in each of the Local Government Areas of the State.”
