The National Board for Technical Education has said Nigerian students must embrace the values of education and arm themselves with diverse practical skills to secure employment opportunities and become innovative business owners because education is not a scam.
The Director of Polytechnic Programmes, NBTE, Ngbede Ogoh, in a statement shortly after the resource inspection by the board at the Gateway ICT Polytechnic emphasized that education remains an asset every human should have.
According to him, “Education plays a crucial role in shaping individual lives and when combined with practical skills, individuals can become job creators rather than job seekers.
“Education cannot be a scam because any form of education a person receives significantly impacts their life. If you look around the world or your environment, you’ll find countless examples of people whose lives have been transformed by education. For a Nigerian graduate, education allows you to begin at a level where your parents may have ended. It provides a foundation from which you can grasp the entire world. Education is never a scam. However, given the current state of society, it’s essential to complement education with skills that can help individuals or nations break free from the cycle of poverty,” he said.
The architect cum administrator maintained that the role of NBTE cannot be overlooked. He noted that the “world has become a global village. NBTE ensures that the pieces of training will propel them to practice in any part of the world. NBTE ensures that our students when they graduate, can practice anyway. We ensure that tertiary education is practical based because a student can have an education that is a bedrock, but what affects it is that skill such students graduate with. The world we are now is no longer the world we heard 50 years ago as the emphasis now is on skills acquisition and Nigeria we cannot be left alone. Therefore, NBTE ensures that adequate skill education is injected into all the courses in the educational system or our polytechnic.
Commenting on the accreditation exercise, the Rector, Dr. Saani explained that the accreditation exercise was organized to allow NBTE to identify the gray areas where for improvement. In his words, “We want to have a standard education so that our students upon graduation, can compete with other students elsewhere. Gateway ICT has keyed into skilled-based tertiary education, our HND accountancy students graduate with an additional certificate (CISCO), so by the time they go to the labour market, they have two certificates that will help them compete with other graduates outside the school.
The Director of the Academic Planning Unit at the Polytechnic, Mr. Emmanuel Solaru, expressed his views on the challenges facing Nigeria’s education system. He voiced concern over the government’s insufficient investment in the sector, highlighting a sharp decline in educational funding. Solaru pointed out a striking disparity between the outcomes of university graduates and those engaged in artisan trades, particularly given Nigeria’s current economic landscape. While many degree holders struggle to secure employment, individuals with vocational skills are flourishing. This contrast has contributed to a growing perception among the youth that formal education is a scam.
Furthermore, he noted that educated individuals frequently rely on illiterate family members for support. He also remarked that while companies once actively recruited final-year university students, this practice has significantly declined.