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* Advocates removal of HND BSC dichotomy.
Success JULIUS
University Don, prof. Christian Ezeibe has charged Federal Government and Stakeholders in the Education sector to prioritize Technology, vocational, entrepreneural and hands -on learning to equip graduates with needed skills to be competitive in the job markets.
This is as he challenge policy markers to remove discriminatory HND/BSC dichotomy to attract youths to pursue their education in technical and hands on learning institutions.
In a convocation lecture delivered by Professor Christian Ezeibe of the University of Nigeria Nsukka UNN, held on Friday in Lokoja,with the theme” Skills over Certificates, Repositioning Technical Education for Sustainable Development” called for a shift from the theoretical model to skills acquisition as a solution for the country to move forward.
Professor Ezeibe, noted that the mad rush for University as against technology institutions was uncalled and a threat to self independence and youth competitiveness in the volatile job markets.
He lamented that the country maintains rapid speed in education with wrong direction, stressing that knowledge and skills based education has become antidote against mass unemployment plaguing the country.
According to him, every year, Nigeria Universities produce over 600,000 graduates into the labour market, yet skills to fill the vacant positions in industries are lacking, forcing employers to look elsewhere to source their staff.
He said , Nigeria is a country of paradox with certificates in abundance, yet with skills in scarcity, urging the governments to take bold step of reinventing her educational policies to meet present realities
He added that most emerging countries have shifted from theoretical knowledge to skills based education that has produced required manpower for all the sectors of their economy.
He decried the situation where tertiary institutions in the country chun out over six hundred thousand graduates annually, but could not find people with skills to man construction, manufacturing, power and petrochemical industries.
Ezeibe, who is a professor of politics and development economics , said, despite the scarcity of jobs, those available are being filled with foreigners as the home graduates lacked needed skills to be hired.
He said, the option left for the government is to create Technology parks with technical, and innovative education as the utmost priority.
He said while the enrollment for the Management and Administration courses in tertiary institutions are on the rise, engineering and technology courses are dropping, affirming that figures from National Universities Commission NUC shows that in 2019 , 60,0551 for Management courses while a paltry 9,103 registered were for the skills based courses, should be a source of worry to the country.
He informed that countries like China, India , South Korea and Singapore have embraced functional technical and vocational education that has transformed their graduates into assets who are being sought after by many underdeveloped countries.
” I urge the Governments to declare a National Skill emergency, prioritize funding for polytechnic and technical colleges , maintained industries collaboration, and scrap the discriminatary HND/ BSC dichotomy once and for all. It is skills not just certificates that is the national currency of employability.
” Kogi poly should deepen industry linkages, aggressively seek equipment grants and partnership, innovate the curriculum regularly to making skills oasis in the state.” Ezeibe advised
While challenging the lecturers in the Polytechnic to upgrade their practical knowledge, inspire students with the possibility of what their hands and minds can build, enjoined the graduands not to look into the certificates but to focus on what they can offer the society that could define their true worth.
