Tony Anichebe 
Governor Udom Emmanuel has handed over the Dakkada Skills Acquisition Centre (DASAC) in Ikot Ada Idem, Ibiono Local Government Area to Akwa Ibom people as part of his parting gifts.
Commissioning the center on Wednesday, Governor Emmanuel informed the people that the state government will be running the center in collaboration with the University of Lagos, which would be overseeing the activities and operations of the centre.
Emmanuel said the decision to partner with a university within the country instead of some institutions outside the country was to ensure an understanding of the state’s environment and socio-cultural structure.
” I want to thank the University of Lagos because when we approached them on this project for their collaboration and partnership, they did not turn us down. Meeting the University of Lagos should assure you that this center will be one of the best, a center of excellence.
“It is also a challenge for the University of Lagos because we had the opportunity of collaborating and partnering with other institutions outside Nigeria. We have some in the Philippines, some from Pakistan, but I said no, east or west, that no other institution outside Nigeria would understand our environment, our socio-cultural structure to be able to manage to achieve our desired result”, he said.
Governor Emmanuel assured the institution’s partners of state government continuous support, even though he will be leaving office.
He listed faculties in the center including; the Faculty of Agric- Business, Faculty of Steel and building technology, Faculty of Mechanical Fabrication and automobile engineering, Faculty of Power and renewable energy, Faculty of Hospitality and Lifestyle Management, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, Faculty of wood technology, Faculty of General Studies and Skills Development amongst others
In her remarks, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, of the University of Lagos Prof Ayodele Atsenuwa thanked Governor Udom Emmanuel for entrusting the responsibility to the University of Lagos assuring that they will ensure that graduates from the centre become potential employers of labour.
Addressing the gathering, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy an indigene of the area, Comrade Ini Ememobong applauded Governor Udom Emmanuel s decision to convert the institution which once served as Government Technical College to a skills acquisition center.
Ememobong who recalled that the school was abandoned by successive governments said the institution’s transformation to a world-class skills acquisition center will bring about incremental development to the area and state at large
He described the revolutionary achievement as another history-making event in the conclusion agenda of the outgoing administration and extended gratitude of the Ibiono Ibom people to Governor Udom Emmanuel.