Academia and industry professionals have called on the government and educational institutions to urgently tap into the repository of human capital potentials available in Nigeria by strategically reviewing its education system approach if it hopes to transform the economy.
They observe that inspite of the huge opportunities that the nations educational space commands, Nigeria continue to fall short in terms of skilled manpower contribution in various sectors owing to lack of requisite skills and knowledge which a robust education system can fix.
Ibukun Awosika, CEO, Sokoa chair centre Limited while speaking at 31st Omolayole Management Lecture series put together by the AIESEC Alumni Nigeria stressed on the need to challenge our educational system.
“Should we not even challenge our education system because how have we structured our educational system in order to support economic growth that we want?”
According to her, “What kind of long term plan do we have and how have we set up our education system to facilitate at different stages the kind of manpower that we need for the future that we want to build|.
In her lecture, ‘Development strategies for job creation and economic growth’ she observe that there are fundamental issues we need to challenge. Among which I the misplacement of students area of interest and competence fueled by expectation of society and the mentality of certification.
“As a nation, we love to go to school, but how our education served us because now every parent is caught in the web of giving up everything to give their ward education”. She noted
Awosika disclosed that the problem with Nigeria is that there are no systems put in place to take the kind of jobs that we are creating. We need a realignment of our education system.
She however maintains that the imperative for the growth and development of Nigeria as a country should be anchor on the enforcement of the national policy mandate in education.
According to him, “I will prefer that we strategically review our education system in a way that from primary school to secondary school we have alternate education to accommodate students with several abilities. The most important thing is that each student should be able to read and write.
In an increasingly global and competitive economy, principally driven by technology, the ability to articulate and execute a robust programme for the practical training and development in the education sector will remain critical success factor in Nigeria Awosika added.
KELECHI EWUZIE and DESMOND OKON
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