‘Take ownership of PNG’

PARTICIPATION and collaboration are the new model for the future and all Papua New Guineans must rise up and take ownership of the country, its resources and people.
“You cannot be a spectator in your own land.”
This was the message given by the senior vice-president of the United States-based Global University of Lifelong Learning, Dr Winston Jacob, to graduates at the International Training Institute’s 32nd graduation ceremony last Tuesday, which coincided with World AIDS Day.
The day also marked Dr Jacob’s 32nd year of service to PNG.
More than 200 students who had completed their diploma and certificate courses at the institute, graduated in a packed Sogeri Room at the Hideaway Hotel.
Special awards were also given to outstanding students of each class with the principal’s award going to Hera Miriam Griffin, a diploma in information technology graduate.
Dr Jacob referred to the National Strategic Plan 2010-50, recently launched by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, as a step in the right direction for PNG and urged the graduates to use whatever knowledge they had gained to take part in the 40-year plan to create success stories for the nation and document them.
“PNG is the only country in the world that has a 40-year plan which envisions a pathway for the country to follow and has a rich culture that should be nurtured and treasured.
“Your Government has set a vision and pathway for you, so it is up to you to take what you have learnt and implement it,” Dr Jacob said.
In a no-holds-barred speech that inspired both the graduates and those who came to witness the graduation, Dr Jacob outlined certain qualities of a 21st century professional as a person who thinks and works quickly, to produce work of high quality.
“Another quality is to have the ability to merge the global and the local,” he said.
He told stories of nationals who he had mentored and helped to become successful role models as examples to prove to the world that Papua New Guineans were capable of being successful in their own land.