N20m technical facilities rot away at GTC, Enugu

Technical facilities worth about N20 million are rotting away at the premises of the Government Technical College (GTC), Enugu State, more than two years after they were moved into the school.

The rot is occasioned by alleged lack of funds to install them, and befitting structures to house the materials.Investigations by The Guardian revealed that two big containers of equipment supplied by the defunct Education Trust Fund (ETF) to the college in 2014, were still locked inside the containers.

It was further gathered that some staff of the college trained by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to handle the equipment, expected to benefit over 3000 students of the school, may have retired.

The college, established by the Federal Government in 1950 as a technical skill centre, was taken over by the Enugu State government. It currently trains students in 15 trades including mechanical, electrical, auto-electrical, woodworks, carpentry, furniture, painting, graphics, arts among others.

Principal of the college, Mr. Fidelis Awuka, who confirmed that the facilities were abandoned, said the college lacked resources to install them, adding that they had written severally to the ETF and its supervising agency, Science Training and Vocational Schools Management Board (STVSMB) in the state on the development to no avail.

“The facilities are being exposed to the sun and rain. We have two crates lying out there filled with machineries sent to us by the ETF; but there is no fund even to mount the machines. The machines were sent in 2014 but cannot be installed because of funds. The NBTE came here to train the technical teachers that will make use of the machines. I have arranged for a private security organisation to guard the school especially in this December in order to secure the machines,” he stated.

“The number of students has so increased that machineries and space are not enough. Most of the machines are so old and cannot be used to train anybody. The general look of the compound is worrisome. The entire place is so old, the roofs are so bad and almost every classroom is leaking. Most of the classrooms are made with asbestos, which have become so bad that one wouldn’t be comfortable staying in them. Some workshops have been turned to classroom which is not proper for safety reasons,” he added.