Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo on Friday said his administration would invest N2 billion in furniture production for public primary schools in the state in 2019.
The governor said this when he inspected the progress of work at Government Science Technical College (formerly Benin Technical College) in Benin.
He also inspected the furniture being produced by the vocational students of the school.
Obaseki said the state government intended to provide furniture to nearly 150,000 pupils in public schools in Edo in 2019.
He said that based on the quality of furniture being made by students in the vocational section of the college, the school would provide substantial number of the items for schools in the state.
He said: “One of the reasons I came here was to see the quality of work the students are doing and their capacity to produce.
“What I see here is much better than what we are importing from China, so, if a substantial part of the furniture is done by this school, much revenue would be accrued to the school.”
He said his administration was also looking at redesigning the structures in primary schools to allow for better ventilation and cooling system.
He said: “One of the challenges we have in our schools is heat, so if we are able to work with the contractor handling the insulator roofing system in GSTC, we can redesign our primary schools such that there is enough natural cooling and ventilation in our schools.”
The governor expressed satisfaction at the progress of work in the school and interacted with graduates of the college undergoing practical training in the construction site in the school.
He said his administration was working with World Bank and Federal Ministry of Education to access a facility that would be used to promote technical education in the state.
He said the facility, which is expected to be available by June, would be used to construct replicate of the structures at the Benin GSTC in Edo Central and Edo North senatorial districts of the state.
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