Akwa Ibom — The Institute of Continuing Education, University of Port Harcourt, yesterday inaugurated a 10-man governing council for its Ikot Abasi affiliate centre in Akwa Ibom State.

Performing the inauguration, Prof. Sam Maduagwu, the Director of the Institute, urged the council members to uphold high ethical and academic standards in the discharge of their duties.

He urged the institute to tailor its curriculum toward the exposure of students to the realities in the industrial sector.

In a related development, the Coordinator of the centre, Mr Akpan Udosen, clarified that the centre was not a satellite campus.

Udosen spoke at the university's 9th joint matriculation and convocation today in Ikot Abasi.

According to him, the centre is part of the academic programme of the university.

He further said Nigeria was in dire need of skilled man-power for its development and urged the students to be good ambassadors of the institute.

The South-South Coordinator, Chartered Institute of Economists of Nigeria, Mr Friday Udo, said the survival of the country depended on the up-coming generation.

He urged the graduating students to salvage the country with their youthful strength while aspiring to reach the peak of their careers.

Udo pointed out that education was crucial to economic development and charged the students to imbibe entrepreneurship culture, to create jobs and exploit the abundant resources in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 122 students for 2007/2008 academic session participated in the matriculation.