The Federal Government of Nigeria has been tasked to develop a National Skill Policy to enhance technical and vocational education training in the country.
Dr Bukola Dosunmu, the founder of Toddlers Haven Educational Foundation made the call at the Public Advocacy and Awareness Lecture on Technical and Vocational Education Training.
The event was held at the Gwagwalada Area Council on Tuesday in Abuja and also witnessed the launch of The-ABWANTNU which is a Gbagyi word, one of the indigenous tribes in the FCT for the craft.
The public lecture with the theme, “Building a mindset for sustaining TVET in Nigeria.” was organised by Dr Bukola Dosunmu to mark her 50th birthday.
She explained that the foundation decided to strategically pick her birth date to educate the people of Gwagwalada, friends and associates on the significance of vocational education.
She said: “Because the foundation has existed in, Gwagwalada for close to 19 years, we have impacted for so many years and the school has lots of visibility.
“So, for today being my birthday I thought this is one of the best days that we can bring people together to be part and listen to this conversation.”
Dosunmu, who expressed concern over the lack of a National Skill Policy in the country, however, said that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) was doing a lot in that direction.
“The Federal Government needs to do more in the area of funding technical and vocational education training. The government needs to also do more in supporting NBTE to ensure that Nigeria has a National Skills Policy.
“There is no National Skill Policy for Nigeria and we know that NBTE is doing a lot with the government regarding this.
“If we have a skills policy, it is going to dictate and flow down to every sector that has one thing or the other to do.
“National Education Development Council has a role to play but then a policy frame above is going to guide whatever they are going to do.”
Similarly, Dosunmu emphasised the need for the government to provide an enabling environment to support organisations, the private sector and the employers of labour.
According to her, the Sectors Skills Councils need a lot of support in terms of developing the National Occupational Standard and many other things.
“So, we have to get to the roots of the policies to see how it will be able to impact every programme that we are doing in the educational system in Nigeria.
“The general perception of the society towards vocational education is not something that you can just knock on their doors and get them together.”
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said the next generation needs education and skills development that should go beyond increasing basic literacy rates.
Represented by Mrs Hajara Abdulkadir of NBTE office Kaduna, Bugaje, said skills development would assure dynamic, multifaceted knowledge-building at higher and tertiary levels, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
“There is a need to change our approaches, attitudes and priorities concerning TVET. We must nurture a highly educated and skilled population that can imbibe technology and build infrastructure that is indispensable for progress and wages an effective war on mass unemployment.”
He said that the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) was approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2012 and in 2017 was launched marking a turning point in Federal Governments Skill Development Policy.
“The NSQF is an FGN approved system for the development, classification and the recognition of skills knowledge, understanding of competencies acquired by individuals, irrespective of where and how the training or skill was acquired.”
Also, the Special Guest of Honour and Vice-Chancellor, University of Abuja, Prof. Abdul-Rashid Na’Allah, urged the Federal Government to increase investment in Technical and vocational education by establishing more Technical Colleges, Schools and institutes in the country.
Represented by Dr Matthew Dada, Director, Centre for Community Development of the university, Na’Allah said access to technical education was still limited in the country.
According to him, it is until when people can access these technical colleges that they can enrol.
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