A country blessed with numerous natural
resources should have its polytechnics more popular than its varsities.
But on the contrary, students attending polytechnics see it as a stopgap
and cannot wait to secure admission into universities.
That was the submission of the Chief
Executive Officer, Lonadek Engineering, Dr. Ibilola Amao, while
delivering a keynote address at a media parley organised by the Nigerian
Academy of Science on Friday.
In her keynote address entitled,
“Investing in youths and building their capacities — Pathway for
national transformation,” Amao decried the focus on paper qualification
at the expense of skill development, entrepreneurship and technical
education available in the nation’s polytechnics.
“Most
of the polytechnic students are there because they could not get into
universities in the first place. For a country blessed with natural
resources, the polytechnics should be the main drivers and educational
hub where resources can be translated into finished products,” she said.
Discussing the outcome of a research
study conducted by her outfit, Ibilola said only 57 out of 147
accredited universities in Nigeria offer engineering courses, while none
of the 123 graduates seeking employment passed the numerical analysis
test.
According to her, it is ironic that youth
unemployment remains a huge burden while there are many under-utilised
potential and opportunities in the area of refining, petrochemicals and
energy where the youths can add value and become entrepreneurs.
While recommending that government should
focus on processing technology based on the pre-1952 resource map,
Ibilola also urged stakeholders to identify societies and organisations
around every sector that will help stimulate development in the sector.
“If you stimulate the performance of the
youths, you are going to get solutions to society’s problem. At the
local government level, we need to have competitions on vocations. The
government needs to give merit awards to 18-35 years old who are game
changers and are providing solutions to the society,” she said
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