Introduction:
As water is very essential to human life; so is a skill
needed in the life of every serious-minded human being. Skills can do a lot of
great work in the life of every living soul. It is common knowledge that about
80% of graduates in most Nigerian universities find it hard to get employment
every year. This is largely due to the curricula of the universities and other
tertiary schools with an emphasis on training for white-collar jobs.
Nigeria has an estimated population of 170 million
people. This population is endowed with abundant human and natural resources
and a favourable geographical location in the world map. The current global
financial crisis has impacted negatively on the macro and micro levels of the
Nigerian economy. In the present, this situation has posed serious challenges
and threats to the government and a great number of citizens.
Nigeria like other developing countries is faced with a
number of problems ranging from youth and graduate unemployment, high level of
poverty, insurgency, conflict and diseases, insincerity, over dependency on
foreign-made goods, low economic growth and development, lack of capacity and
required skills to move the economy forward and urbanization. Unemployment has
become a major problem bedevilling the lives of youths and graduates causing
frustration, depression, dejection and dependency on family members and
friends. The high level of unemployment among this population in Nigeria has
contributed to the high rate of insecurity, violence in elections and poverty.
The
importance of skills acquisition in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. And for
Nigeria to be economically self-reliant, we must necessarily diversify our
economy and as well encourage the youth to embrace self-employment through
skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, self-reliance and financial empowerment.
Skill is very important in the life of every citizen. The reason why many
technicians earn more than some university graduates is that the technicians
acquired more skills than the theories the graduates were fed with when they
were in universities. It can take you to places you do not expect you will ever
find yourself.
Today,
there are many unemployed graduates in the world. One of the problems of the
education system of Africa is that it does not give much room to skills
development . There are so many benefits gotten from skill acquisition,
such as:
·
Self-employment.
·
Diverse job opportunities.
·
Employment generation.
·
Effective function
·
Enhancement of activities
·
Crime reduction.
·
Wealth creation.
Some
of the skills needed for these benefits listed above are; adaptive thinking,
communication skills, collaboration skills, critical thinking and
problem-solving skills, personal management, inquiry skills, technology skills,
creativity and innovation, soft skills, empathy and perspective.