BY NAOMI UZOR

The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has said that plans are being made to revamp the Nigerian educational system, especially at the technical and vocational level.

In a parley with pressmen, National Vice President and Chairman, NACCIMA committee on technical education, Mr. Michael Adesina, said technical and vocational education in Nigeria is deteriorating and has resulted in poor production quality and has provided an excuse for foreign investors to bring into the country thousands of lower and middle level technical manpower, thereby depriving the nation of job opportunities for its  youths.

According to him, NACCIMA has taken upon itself this wake-up call by organising a Two-Day National Education Summit, tagged “ Vocational Education as Driver for Economic Development and Job Creation” to address a number of burning technical and vocational issues of concerns, with a view to restoring the lost glory of our education system.

“The purpose of the summit is to create an effective forum for Public-Private dialogue to address the dearth of technical and vocational education graduates with appropriate training , which is largely responsible for poor operation and maintenance of infrastructure in the country, particularly in areas such as the telecoms, power operation & maintenance, industrial machinery operation & maintenance, mechanized agriculture/ Agribusiness, construction, oil & gas, tourism & hospitality, water supply, transportation, etc. The growth and success of these sectors are very dear to the chieftains of private sector operations” he said.

He said the summit was intended to get relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors of the economy together to brainstorm on the challenges/problems of technical and vocational education in Nigeria and proffer the way forward in line with the transformation agenda of the federal government.