By Thompson Yamput
Prof. Christian Ezeibe has called on the Federal Government to prioritise skills over certificates for employment and national development.
Ezeibe, Dean, Student Affairs, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) made the call in his Convocation Lecture at the Kog State Polytechnic, Lokoja on Friday.
He spoke on the topic: “Skills over Certificates: Repositioning Technical Education for Sustainable Development in Nigeria. ”
The lecturer said that unless government changed the present narrative, the nation’s crave for industrial revolution and development would remain a mirage.
According to him, most of the developed countries of today value skills above certificates and until there’s a change in the policy, our development will be slow.
“A certificate is a licence to learn but a skill is the capacity to do, to create and to solve problems. The global economy today, driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution—robotics, artificial intelligence, ICT and biotechnology.
“Therefore, government and institutions should reward demonstrable skills and not just attested knowledge.
“I hereby urge governments at all levels to declare a ‘national skills emergency’ as a strategic response to Nigeria’s persistent underdevelopment and widespread poverty.
“Institutions like Yaba College of Technology, Federal Polytechnic Ilaro and indeed, Kogi State Polytechnic have produced outstanding graduates, who are excelling locally and internationally.
“Many of our Indigenous engineers, architects, and technologists are polytechnic products, who have held the fort.
“Without skills the nation’s endowed natural resources will remain untapped and the desired development will elude us.
“This is why Kogi State Polytechnic and others must deepen their industry linkages and aggressively seek equipment grants and partnerships for expansion and educational growth, ” he said.
He challenged Kogi Polytechnic to innovate its curriculum every three years and be the skills oasis in the confluence state.
Ezeibe urged the Lecturers, transmitters of information, skill custodians and mentors to continuously upgrade their own practical knowledge to inspire students with possibilities of what their brains and minds could build. NAN
