Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Stakeholders in the technical and vocational education sector have called for an urgent reform of the sector to enable Nigeria achieve its desired economic goals.
They also asked the Federal government to prioritise technical and vocational education, insisting that no nation’s economy can survive without adequate funding of technical education.
The Rectors of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Dr. Oluremi Nurudeen Olaleye and Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa, Dr Olufunke Akinkurolere made the call in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital while speaking to journalists on the sideline of an award ceremony, organised by the African Education Monitor Magazine.
Akinkurolere who won Nigeria’s Rector of the Year award, insisted that, Nigeria must meet its industrial needs by producing more skilled labour that would drive economic development.
She noted that, the significance of technical education is not only to provide the much needed human capital or resources, but it also acts as an agent in developing the necessary technological tools and know-how for economic take off.
Akinkurolere said, “There is no nation that can make any progress with unskilled workers. It is not about the certificate, you can get your BSc or HND, but what skill do you have? and this is what we need in this nation. Because when we are talking about making any technological development, we should have people that are skilled.
“We have a lot of areas of needs, we have a lot of big companies springing up, but do we have people that are skilled in this area that can take up the jobs?
“That is why polytechnics come in, to equip students with the needed skills, because it is only the skill that can drive the economy”.
On his part, the Rector of LASPOTECH, Olaleye said, for Nigeria to compete favourably among other countries, the Federal government must overhaul technical education to bring about the much needed economic development.
He stressed the need for the Federal government to meet up with the 24 percent UNESCO budgetary allocation for education, saying this is the only way the country can secure the future of young Nigerians.
Olaleye said, “Education is the bedrock of development without education there can be no development. It is not only education, but technology education. The federal government has to fund education very well, it is in the funding, that will make more people come onboard as participants in the development process and it is only when we develop, that we can compete among the comity of nations.
“Without education and without technology we will be far behind, more nations will go ahead of us and we will not be reckon with in the comity of nations.
“We are far behind in technical education compared to other countries. We need to put more efforts, put in more funding, more expertise, more training, so that we can at least compete favourably among the comity of nations.”