Federal Polytechnic Oko has been shortlisted as a beneficiary Institution for the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprise (iDICE) project. This was disclosed to the Polytechnic Management by officials of Bank of Industry (BOI) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) who are the partnering bodies for the project. The officials, Engr. Bashir Datti of the NBTE and Mr. Tunde Omoleye of the BOI came for inspection of facilities on ground for iDICE. According to them, our Institution was selectedalong with others from the list of over100 applications from Institutions.
The two man inspection team was received by Deputy Rector Administration Dr. Kenneth Ezekwe who represented the Rector Dr. Chioma Irene Awuzie. Also in attendance were the Deputy Rector Academic, Dr. Uche Onyegbu and the implementation team of the project led by the ICT Director, Dr. Amobi Peter Chiamogu. In his speech, Mr. Tunde gave a highlight of what the iDICE project seeks to achieve. He stated that it is an Initiative of the Federal Government to groom youths who have innovations, ideas, skills and ventureso that they couldbe distinguished and enabled to compete on the big stage.
To achieve this, 66 innovation centres of excellence will be established across the nation. The essence of these centres is to create an enabling environment for youths with solution ideas and creative skills to develop their skills and ideas. The centres will therefore nurture skills, talents and competences especially in technology and creative enterprise.
In his remarks, Dr. Kenneth Ezekwe expressed satisfaction for the selection of Federal Polytechnic Oko to benefit from the project and assured of the Polytechnic’s readiness to host the project.He informed the team that our Polytechnic has strong capacity in ICT which JAMB is leveraging for writing of JAMB examination by candidates. He equally intimated them that the Rector is very IT friendly and will ensure a successful implementation of the IDICE project. Dr. Uche Onyebu corroborated the submission of Dr. Ezekwe as he highlighted that our Polytechnic also has strong competence in creativity and entrepreneurship which could be a big boost for the IDICE project.
Dr. Amobi while making his remarks reiterated the Polytechnic’sstrong competence in IT and sustainable collaboration with some renowned IT institutions. He further assured the team that the Polytechnic has well equipped centres for the project implementation and statedour readiness and preparedness for the project. Thereafter he led the team on inspection of the centre designated for the project by Management, of which the team expressed their satisfaction.
