‘Nigeria needs tech-based skills to be productive’

The Chief Executive Officer of Fides Et Ratio Academy, Paul Chukwuma, has said there is an urgent need to anchor Nigeria’s education system on skill development instead of mere certificates that have not made the country productive.

Chukwuma, who stated this at a briefing in Abuja, said it is not only students seeking admission into the universities that need some skills that will de-emphasise paper qualifications in the country but that other workers in all sectors should have technology-based skills.

He said his academy would soon roll out a massive training programme that will bridge the skill gap in the country.

Chukwuma, who owns a university in East Africa, said: “I discovered that the basic issue we have in our educational system is that the educational system we were introduced to, and to a very large extent we still carry along with, is deficient in the key essential elements that every human being should think about, and that is skills.”

“We prioritised paper qualifications over skills; everybody wants to be a PhD holder; everybody wants to be a professor, even when you cannot defend that title,” he said.

Speaking on the planned skills training programme that is expected to kick off soon, Chukwuma, who was accompanied by a member of the House of Representatives, Afam Ogene, said Nigeria needs to leverage on Information and Communication Technology skills by harnessing the talents of its youth to address the challenges of the country.