The federal government has explained that millions of graduates in the country are unemployed because they do not have specific skills required for the job market.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Arch. Sonny Echono, who said this, Thursday, in Abuja, at a two-day National Conference on Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, explained that the development “has created a shortfall of the adequately skilled educated workforce which is one of the major constraints to the growth and development of our nation.”
The conference was organised by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Skills Development for Youth Employment, SKYE programme, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Development and implemented by the German Development Cooperation, GIZ.
“Most of the graduates produced in various universities of technology, polytechnics, colleges of education (Technical) and technical colleges nationwide do not have specific skills required for the job market (market-relevant skills).
“The situation results to having millions of Nigerian graduates that are unemployed,” he said.
Speaking at the event aimed at repositioning the technical and vocational education and training through policy and legislative options in Nigeria, Echono explained that given the situation, the present administration’s emphasis is majored on Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and skill acquisition, adding that, it was “born out of the recognition that TVET is the bedrock of socio-economic growth and development of any nation.”
Echono said,
“Government at all level has been making frantic efforts to equip the youths by establishing technical colleges, polytechnics, mono-technics, Vocational Enterprise Institutions (VEIs) and Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs) and Model Skills Training Centers (MSTC) for equipping youths/learners with technical and vocational skills through formal and non-formal channels across the states of the federation.”
Speaking further at the conference, tagged:
“Repositioning Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) through Policy and Legislative Options” for National Development”, the Permanent Secretary explained that the “main focus of this conference is to develop synergy among the stakeholders of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Nigeria through policy and legislative options which will serve as a foundation for (TVET) development, coordination and effective implementation in Nigeria.
“There is no doubt that there is an epic gap between the skilled manpower required and that which is currently available,” he said.
