Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat has stressed that leveraging technical education is crucial to creating a prosperous and resilient nation that is equipped to overcome challenges and seize opportunities for the future.
Hamzat, who made the remark on Tuesday, at the meeting of the six South West states that include: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo Osun, and Ekiti State, held in Ikoyi, stressed the need to collaborate and formulate policies on technical education that would catapult the region into a more viable region in terms of technological and business advancement.
The SouthWest Regional Technical Education Providers Forum with the theme, “Empowering Technical Education Providers: Implementing Policies for a Skilled Labour Market,” Hamzat stated that unlocking a brighter future requires a strong foundation in technical education.
According to him, “If we really want to build a prosperous and resilient nation, we must leverage technical education. So our aim must then be to build an economy that is innovative, that understands digital essence and that also allows people to use their hands to work.”
Speaking on the need for the South-West States to develop a unified regional framework for Technical and Vocational Education Training TVET.
Hamzat was of the view that it would ensure consistency and quality across the region.
“We must also establish a mechanism to track outcomes and continuously refine strategies, invest in infrastructure, and foster collaboration by engaging federal, state, and local governments, private sector actors and development partners,” he said.
Furthermore, Hamzat noted that TVET is crucial in the development of the nation, especially Africa as it provides hands-on training, enabling students to develop skills relevant to the job market, adding that Nigeria is at a pivotal moment, where there is unemployment for the youth due to the lack of adequately trained professionals.
Hamzat stressed that in the context of the South West, Technical and Vocation Education can help in addressing skill gaps by aligning training programmes with industry demands and ensuring a steady supply of skilled labour.
“To maximize the impact of TVET in our region, it must evolve and this calls for a bold reforms in the following ways; we must look at the curriculum programmes.
“It must incorporate digital skills, because whether we like it or not technology is the thing right now. We must be able to understand how to manipulate data and be able to have some knowledge of IT. Our people must be able to understand where the world is going, if not Africa will be left behind,”Hamzat said.
He added that there was a need to expand accessibility, by removing barriers that prevent women, people with disabilities, and the rural population from accessing TVET programmes and also bring it to a level where it becomes attractive to the children of the rich.
The Deputy Governor, therefore, reinstated the importance of attaching technical and vocational education to the country’s education system, citing that Lagos has vocational colleges across the five divisions, Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Epe, and Lagos Island.
Hamzat stated that over 10,000 students have benefitted from the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board’s technical and vocational education programme in the state.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Tolani Alli-Balogun has harped on the importance of empowering technical education providers as it is critical to building a skilled labor market that can drive economic growth, innovation, and prosperity.
Alli-Balogun noted that empowering Technical Education providers to implement policies that foster a skilled labor market, adding that Nigerians and policymakers should work together to implement policies that support the success of the providers that will ultimately benefit communities, the economies, and the nation’s collective future.
“It is our collective responsibility to empower Technical Education Providers with increased funding, investments, with streamlined regulatory frameworks to respond to changing labor market demands to foster close ties between Technical Education Providers and Industry partners.
“This is to ensure that training programmes are relevant, effective, and aligned with labor market needs,” posited the commissioner,” the Commissioner concluded.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB), Ms. Moronke Azeez stated the need to improve the state of technical education in the Southwest to ensure that the country has young people who are knowledgeable, skilled, competent, and employable.
Azeez added that both the government and every stakeholder in the southwest region must put their hands together to achieve great things for technical education in the country for the benefit of the coming generations.
According to Azeez, “Our focus is on formal technical education as contained in the national education policy, which provides an alternative pathway for young people. There is huge potential in catching them young with good, solid technical education and training because these students will not become out-of-school children or young people walking around aimlessly.”
