Unemployment: Fubara urges shift to vocational, technical education

Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has called for a strategic pivot towards vocational and technical education within Nigeria's educational framework, arguing that the current overemphasis on academic certificates at the expense of practical skills fuels unemployment and economic stagnation.

Inaugurating an Entrepreneurship Centre, Engineering Faculty Building, and Governing Council Building at Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Fubara stated that preparing Nigerian youths for the 21st century requires a curriculum focused on vocational and technical education. This approach, he believes, will foster self-employment and job creation.

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The polytechnic system was designed in such a way that if you’re gifted with your hands; if you’re a technical person, you can go there and learn more, build your skills so that you can add value to our society.

Fubara recalled the original design of Nigeria's 6-3-3-4 educational system, intended to impart vocational and technical skills at the secondary level. He lamented that the system has deviated from this vision, leading to an obsession with degrees that lack relevance in the current labor market. "The polytechnic system was designed in such a way that if you’re gifted with your hands; if you’re a technical person, you can go there and learn more, build your skills so that you can add value to our society," he observed.

He expressed concern that society often undervalues individuals with technical expertise. "So even when you know that you can’t survive the rigours of academic work, you put your head, struggle to make sure you complete the six years, jump into one university, and come out with one degree that is not useful. That is part of the problem we are having in our society," Fubara added. The governor highlighted the Entrepreneurship Centre as a facility designed to groom young people into employers of labor, rather than job seekers, underscoring his administration's commitment to developmental projects that create opportunities.

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So even when you know that you can’t survive the rigours of academic work, you put your head, struggle to make sure you complete the six years, jump into one university, and come out with one degree that is not useful. That is part of the problem we are having in our society.