Today, more than ever before, Nigerian parents are considering vocational training for their children and wars as a viable alternative to white-collar jobs and also as a fail-proof means of survival in the country.
The nation’s economy is passing through a tumultuous phase and many concerned parents aver that they want their children and wards to embrace hands-on training that could help them develop new skills.
And because there is a low-income problem facing the average worker, parents who spoke to The Point agree that the best way to help their children and wards make ends meet and be financially self-sufficient in the future is to ensure they develop in-demand skills, such as carpentry work, tailoring, plumbing, makeup artist skills.
The parents also reminisced about the era when conventional education could adequately cater for the well-being of young Nigerians hoping to enter the job market after they graduate from the University.
They (parents) maintain that in those halcyon days, young Nigerian graduates were not only “hot cakes” but also targets of organisations who jostled for their services.
Unfortunately, in contemporary Nigeria, such style of recruitment, in most cases, has been scrapped, and instead Nigerians must, willy-nilly, invoke the “connection” of highly placed people to get their dream jobs in both private and government establishments.
And for the majority of those who don’t have “helpers”, they simply continue to swell the ranks of those unemployed who have “beaten black and blue”.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ Labour Force Survey released early this year, Nigeria’s unemployment rate surged to five percent in the third quarter of 2023 from 4.2 percent in the second quarter. The numbers are expected to increase in the bureau’s next survey.
Hence, in the assessment of those who shared their views with The Point, introducing their children and wards to vocational training programmes remains one of the best bets to ensure that their chance of enjoying economic emancipation does not go a-begging.
One such parent, Tunde Adegbesan, 48, a resident of Egbeda, Lagos State, said, “When I was growing up, my late father would always hammer it into us that school was all we needed so as to achieve a bright future.
“In fact, when I was growing up, people who did not go to the University or who dropped out of school were ridiculed and looked at as failures.
“And if, as a young person, you wanted to learn a skill in order to become a hairdresser, painter, roadside mechanic or barber, you would be accused of wasting your family’s resources. But regarding those who went to the University, it is a resource well-spent.
“Today, things have changed. The people who learnt how to give a haircut, those who were apprentices and learnt a trade at Alaba, those who mastered plumbing, the motor mechanics, are the ones enjoying today. They do not feel the economic pinch as much as office workers.
“Today, most salary earners are lamenting and that is the reason why I decided to send my two boys who have completed secondary school – one of them finished three years ago and the other one finished this year – to learn some skills.
“Yes, they can still go to the University if they so desire, but the skills they will acquire here will be as important as a university degree – if not more so.”
Another resident of Egbeda, Mercy Udoh, 40, said, “Because I don’t know how long this Tinubu economy will last, I told my daughter who just got promoted to Senior class that she must learn a skill, by fire and by force.
“They have just finished their third term examinations and she came out in flying colours.
“Although her school informed me that they will organise summer coaching classes during the long holiday and that it will cost N20, 000, I have concluded that they will not see that money.
“I will only add N10, 000 to it and use the N30, 000 I will realise to make payment for her lessons at a beauty school in Ikeja, so that she can learn how to make people up, design beads and tie gele, the Yoruba headgear.
“I want my daughter to learn a skill so that even if the degree she will later obtain from the university later turns out to be useless, she would have something to fall back on.”
A third Nigerian, Damion Ugorji, who is based in Onitsha, Anambra State, told our correspondent, “My parents gave birth to four children and I am the eldest.
“The first three children among us attended university but the fourth child, my parents’ last-born, could not do so because the period he finished secondary school was also when my dad lost his civil service job.
“Today, most salary earners are lamenting and that is the reason why I decided to send my two boys who have completed secondary school – one of them finished three years ago and the other one finished this year – to learn some skills”
“Eventually, the youngest child went off to learn a trade and it was a shame that his elder brothers who had already graduated from University could not sponsor his education.
“But today as I speak to you, he has become a successful businessman. He deals in aluminum products now and has his own staff.
“Sadly, those of us who went to school are still struggling. We don’t have good jobs. And sometimes, my youngest brother is the one who takes care of everyone in the family. He would not be doing so well today if he had attended school like us.
“As soon as my son clocks 15 years old, I plan to send him to my brother so that he can teach my son the aluminum products business.
“This country can kill someone’s star. But I have learnt my lesson. My son will not make the same mistakes I made.”
A political and socio-economic commentator, Ben Njoku, insisted that except the glory days of the Nigerian workers were brought back, parents would continue to send their children and wards to vocational schools and could even jettison university education.
He said even though universities were necessary, parents are realising that some of the wealthiest people in the world did not attend universities or had even dropped out of school.
Njoku also said that parents should have a plan B by observing what their children and wards enjoy doing and encourage them in it. He also added that there is no shame in being the product of vocational training.
“The glory days of workers must be restored. Failure in doing that could be why parents are now realizing that the wealthiest people in the world did not attend universities. Somebody like Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University.
“Even at that, I disagree with those who say that universities are no longer useful. They are important. However, as parents plan on sending their children to these universities, they should also have a plan B.
“Let them observe their children and get to know what they enjoy doing the most. If they enjoy drawing or they like weaving hair, they should be supported and encouraged. What those children are doing today could save the lives of their parents tomorrow.
“And kudos to the Lagos State Government. They already have many vocational centres scattered across the state where youths can go to learn a vocation or skill.
“So, there’s no shame in learning a skill. Everybody must not be doctors or lawyers or pilots.
“And in case you didn’t realise, the owners of businesses, artisans, too, are the ones who, in this economy, are not crying too much like office or factory workers.
“Those ones who have businesses of their own can always adjust the prices of their goods and services. But the ones who have regular jobs cannot just wake up in the morning and increase their take-home pay by themselves.”
In line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education demonstrated a remarkable commitment to advancing innovation in technical education in the country.
On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, OSSAP-TVEE donated 50 laptops and 50 industrial training course licenses, valued at over N80 million, to students at the Government Science and Technical College, Garki, Abuja. The laptops were equipped with appropriate software to support a six-month training programme in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Engineering.
During the handover ceremony at the College in Area 3 of the Federal Capital Territory, Abiola Arogundade, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Education (SSAP-TVEE), emphasized the significance of the donations in line with the presidential mandate to promote innovation in technical education.
“We are giving licenses to 25 students for each of these courses who will each also receive a laptop which is already configured with the appropriate software downloaded to enable the beneficiaries to do the course effectively,” she said.
At the presentation, the need to focus on promoting technical, vocational, and entrepreneurship education was reinforced, with an emphasis on enhancing the advancement of technical and entrepreneurial skills among the students.
“It is the beginning of a journey into stimulating innovation in technical education in the country which is one of the major pillars of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration,”Arogundade disclosed.
Arogundade urged the beneficiary students to seize the opportunity presented by the training, envisioning them as future entrepreneurs in the fields of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. She emphasized the potential for the students to utilize the skills acquired to become self-sufficient and contribute to the nation’s technological advancement.
While underscoring the importance of up-scaling the skills of the nation’s workforce, she highlighted the potential impact of Robotics Engineering and Artificial Intelligence on Nigeria’s industrialization and productivity.
The SSAP-TVEE also emphasized the need for Nigeria to advance in industrialization and technology and join the League of developed nations. Drawing parallels with leading countries in the use of Robots and Artificial Intelligence, she encouraged the students to strive for excellence in their chosen fields, envisioning a future where Nigeria achieves significant progress in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
Arogundade expressed gratitude to Messrs. De Lorenzo International for their generous support and looked forward to continued partnership with the company.
“The initiative represents the beginning of a journey towards stimulating innovation in technical education in the country, aligning with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration. The donations of laptops and training course licenses symbolize a significant step towards fostering innovation, enhancing technical education, and empowering students to become key contributors to Nigeria’s technological landscape,” she disclosed.
She also pointed out that currently many interventions are going on in Nigeria in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence adding that by the donations, her office is contributing to President Tinubu’s mandate of promoting technical education in Nigeria.
Arogundade, who said the donations to GSTC are the beginning of a series of such gestures to technical institutions across the country disclosed that the next in line for the donations is Yaba College of Technology in Lagos where Robotics Science and Artificial Intelligence equipment will also be donated adding that the courses being given to any technical institution would depend on the ones they indicated interest in.
Reacting to the kind gesture by the Federal Government, the Principal of the school, James Musa Kuta, in his remarks, expressed delight at the gesture describing it as a privilege to be chosen among many other technical institutions in the country as the first to receive the courses and laptops for the six-month programme.
The Principal declared, “It is a privilege that our youths are being captured at this age to engage in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Anywhere you go now all over the world it is the in thing and if the youths are perfect in them, they will fit in any part of the world.”
While expressing their appreciation of the President and the SSAP-TVEE, Young-Itiye Emmanuel and Simone Godsfavour Ojoacheli, both beneficiaries in the Artificial Intelligence Course, thanked the President for his interest and commitment to Nigeria youths commending the SSAP-TVEE for bringing that commitment to reality by the donations to them.
Also, Muhammad Onono Hadiyyah, Augustine Daniella and Manasseh Goodness Injadoo, beneficiaries in the Robotic Sciences, hailed the administration of President Tinubu for its commitment to youth development in the country and expressed gratitude to the SSAP-TVEE making them beneficiaries of the gesture.
They all promised to make good use of the opportunity by both developing into experts in their chosen careers and training other youths in their careers.
