Through the Planet One of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it has also expended an estimated 392 million Euros in infrastructure development in the National Vocational Training Institutes (NVTIs) to boost the TVET sector.

President Akufo-Addo said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Michael Okyere Baafi, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, at a grand durbar in Sunyani to climax the 55th Anniversary celebration of the Sunyani Technical University on Saturday.

It was on the theme: "STU, 55 Years of Progress and Achievement in TVET Education: Mobilising Excellence for Leadership in Ghana's Industrialisation Agenda".

The Government had, since 2007, created a strong foundation for TVET due to its importance to the nation's socio economic development, he said.

The rehabilitation and upgrading of laboratories and workshops in technical universities and institutes remained one of the key projects undertaken by the government to uplift skills training in the country.

The project, which cost some 199 million US dollars, was a collaboration between Ghana and its Chinese partners through the AVIC International Holding Corporation of China.

This was to provide state-of-the-art equipment for 13 technical institutes and the 10 technical universities to enhance skills training in these institutions.

Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice-Chancellor of the STU, expressed concern over the deplorable condition of access roads to the University and appealed to the Government to provide an asphaltic overlay on the four-kilometre long campus road, in addition to the one-kilometre Waterloo section, which remained un-paved.

He appealed for the construction of a pedestrian footbridge across the Sunyani-Kumasi Highway in front of the University to save students from the frequent knockdowns by motorists.

Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah commended President Akufo-Addo for the support, through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND), to complete the basement of the Science Park Project, but expressed regret over the yearly allocation for the only GETFUND project at the University, saying it was woefully inadequate.

Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister, said technical education remained crucial to the nation's industrialisation agenda, which sought to transform the economic structure from primary to secondary.

"In view of this, the New Patriotic Party-led Government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that technical education is given the needed impetus to drive the transformation to industrialisation and accelerated socio-economic development of the country," she said.

The STU started as the Sunyani Technical Institute (SUTECH) in 1967 to provide Middle School leavers the opportunity to undergo hands-on training in craft programmes.

Those were intermediate block-laying and concreting, carpentry and joinery, electrical installation and motor vehicle mechanics.

The institute was turned to a polytechnic in 1997 and 19 years later, (2016), it was converted to the STU, with a new mandate to provide higher education and award its own degrees, diplomas and other certificates.

The courses include Engineering, Science and Technology, TVET, as well as Applied Arts and related disciplines as enshrined in the Technical Universities Act 2016 (ACT 922 as amended).