Recently, I was invited to a meeting hosted by the Africa Chamber of Digital Commerce, “a multisectoral non-profit organization that focuses on sustainable digital economic development.” During the session, they posed the following question: “As a Diasporan living in the United Kingdom, what are your thoughts on investment opportunities in Nigeria that can contribute to the country’s growth and development?”
I told them that there are numerous investment opportunities, but I would limit my response to educational investment opportunities. This is due to my extensive business experience in the field of education in Nigeria and other African nations, including Ghana and Benin Republic.
I am also interested in education due to its significant, yet untapped capacity as a catalyst for socio-economic advancement in Nigeria. For instance, millions of children in the country still lack access to education. A report from UNESCO in 2022 estimates that 20 million Nigerians are out of school. In the same year, Chief Goodluck Opiah, the Minister of State for Education for the Federal Government of Nigeria, said that 31% of Nigerians were illiterate.
As the proverb goes, “if you think education is costly, try ignorance.” This affirmation suggests that education is a panacea for unemployment, poverty reduction, and insecurity in developing and underdeveloped nations. Numerous scholars, including Wim Groot and H. Maassenvandenbrink’s 2010 study on ‘the effects of education on crime,’ have found that crimes such as shoplifting, vandalism, threat, assault, and injury decline as education levels increase.
Examining alternative forms of education, such as vocational training, is one approach to reducing Nigeria’s yawning education gap. Due to the excessive requirements imposed by the Nigerian government via the National Universities Commission (NUC), many educational entrepreneurs find it impossible to invest in tertiary education. Interestingly, many nations are leveraging our educational system’s flaws for their own economic growth.
The question, however, always remains, “Do we have the capacity to invest in education in Nigeria?” Hopefully, the argument I will present will convince the federal government to reconsider some of its educational policies. In Nigeria, there are approximately 276 universities, including 51 federal universities, 61 state universities, 147 private universities, and 17 distance learning centres. There exists a considerable number of secondary school graduates who aspire to secure admission into these institutions. However, the universities are unable to accept them due to limited carrying capacity. The current approach employed by the government to address this issue involves strategically reducing the number of students through the administration of JAMB (Joint Administration and Matriculation Board) tests, with the aim of admitting only those who can be sustainably absorbed or accommodated by universities.
However, the intriguing question is “What happens to students with excellent grades who do not meet a university’s JAMB admissions threshold? While the few who can afford it pursue alternative university education in foreign countries, the vast majority are left without education. The business opportunity I’m referring to is an alternative to a university education. This is the vocational instruction alternative. How many vocational training facilities exist? How about the government creating a favorable environment for higher education alternatives?
A viable education system that leaves no one behind in Nigeria is one that provides vocational training as an alternative to university degrees. How many of these vocational training centers do we have? This sector is currently grossly underdeveloped as a result of the emphasis on tertiary education, which is out of reach for the majority of Nigerians, and whose graduates, for the most part, have limited job prospects beyond the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) due to the fact that our higher education institutions focus more on ‘book knowledge’ instead of providing students with the practical skill sets necessary to create jobs for themselves and others after graduation.
In light of this current situation, it is imperative for the government to undertake additional measures in order to establish a conducive atmosphere for alternative higher education providers. Some of these will focus on addressing policy inconsistency, granting autonomy to local governments, redesigning curriculum to reflect reality, giving proper recognition to polytechnics, colleges of education, and colleges of agriculture, and promoting vocational technical qualifications. One would argue that efforts have been made but these still lack as will be discussed further below.
Policy Inconsistency
The government has made efforts but has also faltered. One important effort was the initial 6-3-3-4 system of education which was designed to equip students with sellable skills that would make them self-employed and self-reliant even if they were not able to proceed to the university. I recall, in the past, we had introductory technology subjects where we learned woodwork, carpentry, and welding. With such training, it was very easy for students to be inspired to progress into such crafts. There were lots of practical aspects with a lot of machines that people could use and subsequently start up their business. The government has not followed up on its policies.
Many scholars including Victor Uwaifo and Patrick S. O. Uddin in 2009, stated that poor laboratory or workshop-student ratio and lack of availability of instructional materials for the teaching of the technology subjects were some of the problems associated with the implementation of this public policy. Egugbo and Salami also corroborate this in their article in 2021 on ‘Policy Analysis of the 6-3-3-4 Policy on Education in Nigeria’, adding that the failure of this public policy was due to some internal factors such as epileptic power supply, lack of adequate home-grown technology, inadequate skilled manpower to see the students through the vocational training, and corruption. However, with the new system introduced in 2008, the Nigerian educational structure became 9-3-4, which means 9 years of basic education, 3 years of senior secondary school education, and 4 years of tertiary education. Notwithstanding, this new system has not achieved the much-needed result for obvious reasons – the problems highlighted with the previous system are yet to be addressed.
Granting Autonomy to Local Governments
Sadly, the community vocational centres that should have been run by local governments are dead. Local Government’s fate as the third tier of government closest to the people in terms of vocational training and establishing centres, has been useless in advancing development. Local governments need to be granted autonomy so that they can set up these vocational centers and finance other infrastructural development projects.
Redesigning Curriculum to Reflect Reality
Curriculum must be designed from the beginning and emphasis should be on courses that can generate practical skills and self-sufficiency. We would benefit more from courses that add value to the economy and bring practical solutions to the system. There are many courses that have no prospects for students to get a job with any organization when they graduate, but students go ahead and study these courses because they have fancy names. Some of these courses focus on general knowledge and once you graduate you can’t create jobs for yourself. Emphasis has been solely on book knowledge instead of practical skills that will benefit the people and make them self-sufficient so that they don’t keep on waiting for government jobs.
Giving Proper Recognition to Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, and Colleges of Agriculture.
The value system is part of the problem. Public perception of polytechnics and colleges of education qualifications is a result of the poor recognition of these institutions by the government. The government can make colleges of education and colleges of agriculture more attractive so that people don’t choose them as a last resort. I have seen people taking JAMB over and over in a bid to get into the university. We have a value system that makes people rush into universities but the underdevelopment of colleges of education, colleges of agriculture, and polytechnics where these practical skills can be learned are not encouraged because of the prestige given to universities – for example with higher grade levels and higher salaries for university graduates. The current situation appears to look like our students are trained to just get NYSC certificates. NYSC has become the destination for many university graduates. Our system focuses too much on paper qualification for employment much more than experience. Of course, we have seen adverts where an employer is asking for a 25-year-old graduate with 5 years’ experience. But the reality is that the majority graduate when they are over 26 years old due to late entrance into university because of the poor carrying capacity of the university, students failing to meet JAMB’s threshold, and ASUU strikes which prolongs their degree completion dates.
Promoting Vocational Technical Qualifications
Skilled jobs have a place in employment creation in developed countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, employers place more value on work experience than educational qualifications except for academic-related jobs. The training you get while doing an apprenticeship can count towards your work experience. Skilled jobs like civil engineering, medical practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, etc., should be given proper recognition like other skills jobs like mechanics, welding trades, farmers bricklayers and masons, carpenters and joiners, electricians, and electrical fitters. Many developed countries do this by having a list of job classifications with the appropriate occupation codes, job types, and job titles assigned. These other skilled jobs need to be recognized and licensed. That way, only approved organizations will have government support and backing to get customers.
We need to promote Vocational Technical Qualifications (VTQs) where learners can focus on a specific job or consider other employment areas, like engineering, IT, or healthcare. This will suit those who have strong interests in working in a specific industry. Each educational provider of these VTQs can set their own entry requirements. When students complete the VTQ they can secure a job in their chosen career and those who desire to further their studies can do so and earn a degree.
These concerns on how our government can take advantage of VTQs to promote learning and create employable youths were raised at the Malamin College Educational Summit I chaired earlier this year. Professor Leonard Shilgba, a member of the team advocated for a certification policy where the government can come up with a certificate policy that unless you are certified in one of the technical schools that offer short-term courses, the individual cannot practice in any artistry in the state. We advocated that every graduate from those technical schools be given a professional code to practice. And only those with the codes will be allowed to practice in the state. We recommended that the state government certifies skills acquisition centres where these centres will be granted a trade test certificate. This will encourage self-employment and discourage reliance on government jobs as a major source of employment. The government can also give assistance such as introducing scholarships, grants, or subsidizing tuition fees to students admitted at these technical schools and sensitizing the public on the importance of skills acquisition. If the government can consider these for students interested in enrolling in technical or skills acquisition programs, it will encourage more individuals to pursue vocational education training. “Catch them young”, they say. Let the government sensitize students right from primary schools,or at least create the enablement for others to do so, so that they can begin to consider alternative career paths.
About the Author
Kohol Shadrach Iornem, PhD, teaches Business Management and Organisational Behaviour. He is a leadership coach, speaker, and author of ‘A Social Science Student’s Guide to Surviving Your PhD’ published by the Open University Press (2021). He is a member of several professional bodies including the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team and the British Academy of Management.