Skills create jobs – University Don condemns Nigeria’s focus on paper certificate

A Professor of Industrial and Technology Education at the Federal University of Technology, FUT, Minna, Professor Emmanuel Raymond, has identified Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, as Nigeria’s most potent tool for tackling unemployment, reducing insecurity and driving sustainable economic growth.

Raymond stated this while delivering the university’s 131st Lecture, titled “The Marriage Between TVET and Job Creation: Let No One Put Asunder,” at it’s Gidan-Kwano campus. 

He argued that Nigeria’s continued emphasis on certificate acquisition rather than practical skills has left millions of graduates unemployed and unable to meet labour market demands.

Prof Raymond lamented that the nation’s education system has become overly theoretical, producing graduates who possess academic qualifications but lack the technical and entrepreneurial competencies required by industries, businesses and the modern economy.

According to him, Nigerians have become fixated on white-collar jobs while neglecting blue-collar skilled occupations and other vocational careers capable of creating wealth and reducing dependence on government employment.

“Today, Nigeria has over 10 million unemployed youths, while more than 700,000 university graduates remain jobless. At the same time, about 80 per cent of the nation’s workforce operates in the informal sector without formal certification.

” Theory alone cannot feed our people or grow the economy. Skills create jobs, jobs reduce poverty, and when our young people are meaningfully engaged, insecurity will naturally decline. That is why Nigeria must embrace Technical and Vocational Education and Training as a national priority,” Raymond said.

The professor warned that neglecting skills development has contributed significantly to rising unemployment and insecurity, stressing that an idle youth population poses a serious threat to national stability and development.

He questioned why many graduates still depend on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to acquire basic vocational skills, arguing that higher institutions should have equipped them with employable skills before graduation.

Raymond called on governments at all levels to increase investment in TVET through improved funding, modern training facilities, stronger industry partnerships, curriculum reforms and the establishment of a National Skills Development Fund, while making vocational education compulsory in secondary schools.

He further urged the private sector to expand apprenticeship and internship opportunities and actively participate in curriculum development to ensure graduates acquire skills relevant to the changing labour market and emerging technologies.

Speaking at the lecture, the Vice-Chancellor of FUT Minna, Professor Faruk Adamu Kuta, described the topic as timely, saying it addressed one of Nigeria’s most pressing national challenges—job creation—which has continued to fuel insecurity and other social problems.

Kuta said the university would continue to organise similar academic engagements to inspire students to embrace entrepreneurship and practical skills, stressing that graduates should become employers of labour rather than job seekers.