Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu has announced his enrollment in a shoe making academy, The Footwear Academy, Aba, to show wish fascination for shoes made in the commercial city of Aba.
The Governor while urging youths to do same as part of efforts to move out of unemployment Market expressed his willingness to support the academy with land to expand its capacity to admit more students.
In a tweet in his verified handle, the governor said the move will help in growing our local economy especially when patronage is given to locally made products and services instead of patronising foreign products at the expense of locally made ones.
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According to the Governor, efforts are also ongoing to get the Abia State Polytechnic Aba partner with The Footwear Academy, for the award of Diploma in leather technology which he said will further get our youths engaged and grow the economy.
Read full tweet below
“I’m glad to announce that I have enrolled as a student at The Footwear Academy, Aba, where I eagerly look forward to develop shoemaking skills. I’m most fascinated by the quality of shoes & other leather works produced by our people in Aba, products that can compete …with the Chinese & other top nations in the global shoes & leather works industry. That’s why I’ve always donned Made-in-Aba wears, & showed my pride in them by going a step further to enrol at this Footwear Academy. While we appreciate the @Official_NRC, @PoliceNG and other institutional patrons of our local products. I encourage other corporate & private citizens to toe the same line so as to help grow our economy rather than grow the economy of other nations by patronising their products at the expense of our own.
I also encourage our youths to take advantage of the many entrepreneurial opportunities my administration is making possible in Abia State to acquire skills that will help them sustain a meaningful livelihood. It was based on this that I also committed to giving the Footwear Academy the needed government support including provision of land for its expansion in order to be able to take in more students. I’ve also advised the Academy & the Enyimba Automated Shoe Factory to collaborate with each other for greater output.
I must not fail to commend Mr Bentley Chukwuemeka, founder of The Footwear Academy, for heeding our call to investors to invest at home. His is another example of how our government supports both foreign & local investors for the good of our people. And just like my government sponsored 30 Abia youths to China to hone their shoemaking skills after which they have been transferring the acquired knowledge to others back home, we are committed to continue to educate & train our youths to ensure that, apart from establishing their own investors also have a pool of highly qualified, yet, competitively priced manpower they can tap from.
Lastly, let me restate my gladness at seeing that the enthusiasm of our youth in shoe making has been rekindled following my enrolment, after which over 2,000 prospective student shoe makers are now on queue to enrol.
Very soon, Abia State Polytechnic (ABIAPOLY) will commence programmes that will collaborate with The Footwear Academy (TFA) & the Enyimba Automated Shoe Company (ENASCO) (for practicals exposure) that will lead to the award of Diploma certificates in leather technology, with emphasis on shoe designs & manufacturing! We are poised to remain the leading ecosystem for leather products in Africa!
Having enrolled at The Footwear Academy, I shall do my best to graduate with distinction & become a shoemaker of choice to people of all classes”
~Gov Okezie Ikpeazu
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