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By Grace T. Dogara
Introduction
Overtime, crime has become a giant cankerworm that has eaten deep into the society using both young and old as working tools. Some people in their own school of thought align one of the reasons for crime to poverty and unemployment. Several measure have been put in place by the government to curb crime to no avail.
In recent time, the introduction of Skills Acquisition Programmes has helped to reduce crime to certain level.
What is skill?
Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defines skill as an ability that has been acquired by training or the ability to produce solutions in some problems domain.
Skill is also the acquired ability to do something well.
What is skill acquisition?
Skill acquisition involves learning or being trained on a given vocation and mastering it through constant and repeated practice.
Skill acquisition can also be defined as the art of learning to do something in order to earn a living.
Acquiring a skill enables someone to be self-reliant in a chosen field and when such is been developed, it will not only cause the person to earn a living but to also become an employer of labor which will also reduce the unemployment rate in our society.
Stages of skill acquisition
There are basically three (3) stages of Skill Acquisition which were described by FIHS and Posner as “The Motor Learning Theory”. The stages are:
1. Cognitive stage: in this stage, the learner tries to learn a skill by receiving verbal or and visual knowledge.
2. Associative stage: this is the stage where the learner starts to improve his performances after series of practice.
3. Autonomous stage: at this stage which is also called the last stage, the learner has gained through diligent practice which become automatic and he can accomplish without conscious thought as it skill is deeply rooted in him.
Types of skill acquisition
There are different types of skill acquisition depending on the field of profession or industry. These skills could be soft skills and as well as technical skills thus, each industry or field has particular skills needed for their employees to succeed. Below are some of the top skill acquisitions in Nigeria
· Hair dressing /styling
· Fashion designing
· Fishery
· Event planning
· Catering services
· Photography
· Arts and crafts
Importance of skill acquisition
There are several reasons for skill acquisition and many advantages attached to them. Without mincing words, skill acquisition in every sector in Nigeria is considered very essential as it relates to both individuals and their communities.
It is for certain that not everyone will be educated. And definitely, not everyone who got an education will end up using the certificate to seek for paid employment. In Nigeria, a society where there are millions of young graduates competing for the few available jobs, it is now key, more than ever, to look to other means of employment.
Significance of skill acquisition
Two decades after Nigeria’s independence, opportunities for employment abound for Nigerian graduates. In facts, it was the case that each recent graduate had at least three jobs from which to choose. Furthermore, the movement from school to job was virtually automatic. Today, it is very pathetic that the story line has changed as there is a disconnection between the world of learning and the world of work. Each job that appears in the labor market is now pursued by many old and new unemployed individuals because of the growing population. Reference assert that there are increasingly fewer occupational opportunities for the unfortunate youths who lack the basic skills and knowledge. By implication, unemployment rate will increase which will be a menace to the society, thereby, slowing down the pace of development because of untapped potentials or talents that are lying idle. Therefore, there is the need for the unemployed individuals to learn and acquire new skills which would make them self-employed by setting up their own businesses to create jobs for others too. In some cases, where the few ones get a job, they are trained to acquire special skills before they can go ahead with the new job. Reference opines that skill acquisition help people already on a job; intending to work in any of the varieties of occupations needed by the society. There is no job that does not require its own skill for manpower development.
The importance of skill acquisition to the development of the nation is of no small measure. Many of these construction industries, manufacturing industries, production industries, etc, are in daily need of trained personnel, technicians, technologists, engineers, etc, to carry out one job or the other. Reference [13] is of the view that our industries need skilled and well-trained workers to ensure that goods manufactured in Nigeria are as good as those manufactured in other parts of the world.
Conclusion
The world is embracing a knowledge-based economy. We need to acquire more knowledge and skills for economic growth because every sector needs better skills to keep it running.
By accommodating this, we need to equip the youths and working adults with employment skills and knowledge to meet the increasing demand for technical manpower by various sectors of the nation’s economy either through potential guidance and counseling formal, non-formal or informal training.
Recommendation
In the light of the above, the following recommendations are submitted to curb crime in our society:
* Entrepreneurial development must be mandated in our schools to solve the problem of poverty which in turn leads to crime in our country.
* Recruitment of more technicians should be encouraged to gear their interest up Government, through the Ministry of education should mandate these entrepreneurial skills into the school curriculum.
* Government should fund Institutions and organisations like National Commission for Museums and Monuments who have over the years been involved in training Students, Communities, Inmates of Correctional Centres, Physically impaired persons to enable them empower those trained to be self reliant.
* There should be more practical work to complement theory in our tertiary institutions of learning, to provide skilled labor for the economy.
* Enough training facilities need to be provided to replace obsolete training equipment in this era of digitalization, in order to meet modern standard.
* The wide gap between the classroom and the industry should be bridged by skill acquisition policy in every ramification. In fact, the ration of theoretical to practical should be 30:70 because you learn what you see, you remember what you touch.
* Secondary and post-secondary institutions curricula should be developed to suit the demands of labor market.
* The Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) programme should be extended to the secondary schools during school vacation period while the fresh graduates go for one year industrial training after graduation.
* Government should look into and improve programmes that will encourage skill acquisition for our youths.
• Dogara is of Education Unit, National Museum, Minna
