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By Gabriel Dike
The chairmen of the first indigenous computer institute in Nigeria, Rimax Institute, Meiran, Lagos, Chief Livinus Okwara, has made a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to accord top priority to vocational and technical education in the country.
Okwara, who spoke in Lagos amid the decline of vocational and technical education in the country, said government should encourage the youths to embrace vocational and technical education as a means to acquire skills.
He explained that the promotion of vocational and technical education would help to reduce unemployment among youths and boost the acquisition of different skills and grow the economy.
Okwara revealed that he has concluded plans to introduce Rimax Secondary Education, with emphasis on vocational studies, as his contribution to reawaken interest in skills acquisition.
The chairman of Rimax Institute said he believed in catching the youths young at the secondary school level before they are corrupt by peer pressure, and the need to orient their minds towards skills acquisition.
According to him, the importance of vocational and technical skills in the development of a country like Nigeria cannot be overemphasized.
He said products of vocational and technical education aid the development of any nation and cited the example of China and other Western countries: “Vocational education has not been given top priority in Nigeria. Most of the vocational centres in the country are obsolete. Government is no longer interested in skills acquisition.
“Before you consider a country as a developed, skills centres must operate at full level as obtained in China and other countries. Skills acquisition is now being introduced in the universities. I wrote to the government to pay attention to skills acquisition.
“I have decided to introduce secondary school with vocational studies for students to acquire skills in 74 courses. Government should recognize stakeholders promoting skills acquisition. We are producing graduates without skills and it is hurting the economy.
Okwara stressed that the minds of the youths are focused on negative things while many male secondary schools students drop out of school to go into Yahoo.
He also revealed that millions of youths are after university certificates and have abandoned skills acquisition. The chairman of Rimax Institute said the secondary education for skills acquisition would start this year.
Chief Okwara further revealed how in 1974, he established the indigenous only computer institute in the country after his return abroad, noting, “I was the first computer institute in the country with spread in 19 states. From computer education, I expanded to vocational and technical education.”
