Thinker Village, Paynesville — Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor has admonished young people to use education as a tool to eradicate poverty from their lives.
Delivering a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Aveem University College in Thinker Village on Tuesday, December 20, VP Taylor emphasized that young people need courses that will enable them to dream big and be committed to the rebuilding process of Liberia.
Vice President Taylor said: "It has been said many times and I will say it again, that education is the only tool to eliminate poverty."
"There is no other tool. Whether it is formal education, whether it is skill training, whether it is vocational training, whether it is knowledge acquisition at different levels, it is only education that transforms a nation, that can transform people and that can give hope to the next generation."
According to her, the university will offer interesting courses that would change the mindset of people.
The Aveem University College was accredited by the National Commission on High Education on November 30, 2022.
Vice President further stressed that the institution would be ahead in providing training opportunities for young people in the communities where they reside, to acquire quality education.
She, however, said students enrolling in the institution should exhibit integrity, commitment, dedication, and hard work.
"It is my prayer that the young people will come to this institution that it will be an institution for teaching all of that integrity and commitments that we need and it will be an institution that will instill in us the greatness that God has given us," she said.
Madam Taylor also believes agriculture education is one way through which the country can be self-sufficient if students in the field begin to practice it effectively.
This is why she sees it prudent that Aveem University will make agriculture studies one of its cardinal courses expected to be offered.
Veep Taylor further emphasized that those in the agriculture sector and Liberians at large to go beyond thinking about only planting.
"Agriculture is not just planting, it is about production, it is about marketing it is about connection because how do you get your produce from the ground to where it can be produced to long-term produce," she averred.
She added, "We are part of the African Continental Free Trade and what that means each country must become productive."
Giving a brief overview of the institution's establishment, the founder, Pastor Akin Oguntimehin, said the institution was founded to contribute to national development in the wake of growing demand for tertiary education in the country.
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He explained, that the institution will train students to become quality and qualified professionals in high-demand career fields, by creating useful and concrete employment pathways, through carefully chosen programs.
Oguntimehin further indicated that he also has a plan to oversee the physical, moral and spiritual needs of the vulnerable, blind, disabled and orphans.
"Raising up a generation with requisite strength to accept responsibility of their destinies," he noted
Oguntimehin added, "We make the children of the low background knowledge that they can be fulfilled. Children of high background, silver, golden, and diamond spoons to know that success is not transferable virtue. If your parent is a world wrestling championship it is not transferrable you. You cannot inherit it. Any inheritance that you cannot spiritually or mentally qualified for will either ruin you or you ruin it."
He stressed the need for the country to transition from a nation of consumption to production through agriculture.
He further said: "We are going into demonstration farm of not less than 150 acres, with modern rice, soya, maize/corn processing on a mechanized level. We intend for job creation, food sufficiency even for exports," he said.
