Opinion
The Oracle: How Buharocracy Put Nigeria in Throes (Pt. 1)
Published
2 years agoon
By
Eric
By Mike Ozekhome
INTRODUCTION
NO TO HISTORICAL REVISIONISTS
I will not allow historical revisionists the opportunity to quickly rewrite Nigeria’s recent history – especially of former president Mohammadu Buhari’s dismal performance and misgovernance of Nigeria in the last 8 years. True, the fawners, bootlickers, toady flatterers and clappers, who benefited greatly from his warped tenure, are ever ready to applaud, clap and “rankadede” him forever. I am not one of them. I never was. Never will be. Or are you? Let me however thank President Buhari (as I had done severally before now), for decorating me with the prestigious National honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), the 4th highest honour in Nigeria. This adds to my 2009 National honour of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR). Buhari did this notwithstanding my strident criticism of his governance and leadership style throughout his 8 disastrous years of poor governance. He sure has tons of guts and strong balls to have taken my frequent disagreements with him in good faith. He earned my deep respect and admiration in this regard of large-heartedness. This is because not many in his huge shoes would have done so, given the same circumstances. However, whilst thanking the ex president, I will not be fair to history, the present and future generations yet unborn, if I do not give my earnest, but humble assessment of his 8 years misgovenance of Nigeria. It was simply squandering of riches. Missed opportunities! Missteps. False steps. This is where BUHAROCRACY comes in. he wobbled. He fumbled. He dawdled. He groggled. He literally crumbled. Buharocracy is the concept of government. But, let me background this writeup with my neologism.
I have since evolved OZEKPEDIA- my own neologism – my coinage of new words and phrases that appear not to exist before, but which I now throw up to achieve popular or institutional recognition and thus get accepted in the mainstream English language. It is in this regard I have since minted fresh words such as ELECTIONOCRACY (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/595657-nigerian-politicians-and-the-go-to-court-antics-by-mike-ozekhome.html); SELECTOCRACY (https://mikeozekhomeschambers.com/building-bridges-for-a-new-nigeria/); EXECUTOCRACY (https://independent.ng/building-bridges-for-a-new-nigeria/); LEGISLATOCRACY (https://barristerng.com/is-this-the-nigeria-of-our-dream-a-lecture-by-chief-mike-ozekhome-san-on-ambrose-alli-day/); and JUDOCRACY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8ByKVWWj0).
I had also coined, with reference to former President Buhari not treating Nigeria as one unified “Federal Republic of Nigeria”, some aberrative terms employed and practised by Buhari in his peculiar style of governance. Buhari practised “Federal Republic of the North”; or “The Northern Republic of Nigeria”; or “Republic of Northern Nigeria”; or “Republic of Federal North”; or “Northern Nigeria Republic”; or “Republic of Northern Nigeria and other vassal states”. (See http://mikeozekhomeschambers.com/nigerian-leaders-and-the-ephemerality-of-power/; The Cable, “It is illegal for Buhari to Solely Appoint IP, says Ozekhome, https://www.the cableng; 6/4/21). (https://www.capitalpost.ng/nba-fractionalisation-jibrin-okutepa-san-sorely-missed-the-point-Ozekhome/); (https://ourpeoplesfm1041.com.ng/2021/01/16/remove-that-fatwa-from-bishop-kukahs-head-by-mike-ozekhome-san/); https://www.latestnigeriannews.com/p/153190/remove-that-fatwa-from-bishop-kukahs-head-ozekhome.html).
I did not coin, but I have since used and popularised “Amala politics”; “Gbegiri politics”; “Come-and-chop politics”; and “Stomach infrastructure politics”, etc. But, I have also minted into our political lexicon, words such as “tuwo sinkafa politics” “politrician”, “militrician”, “civitrician”, and “politics of akpu”, “edikang ikon”, and “politics of omisaghue and amato”. In one of my outings as far back as May 11, 2015 (even before Buhari was sworn in for his first term), titled, “Era of Decampment: Politicians Without Principles” (see https://globalpatriotnews.com/opinion-era-of-decampment-politicians-without-principle/), I wrote as follows:
“The “come-and-chop” or “chop-I-chop” politics syndrome found its name into the Nigerian political lexicon long before Fayose. Long before now, we had colourful politicians like Busari Adelakun (Eruobodo) and Lamidi Adedibu, who popularised “amala” or “gbegiri” politics. Some call it “akpu”, “edikang ikon”, “tuwo sinkafa” politics. I call it “politics of “omhisaghue and amato” (don’t ask me what these mean in my Etsako, Weppa- Wanno language).
“This genre of politics is simply anchored on the cheap principle of sharing (never baking) the national cake amongst family members, old school mates, kinsmen, religious peers, business companions, political affiliates, etc. It is a euphemism for freely stealing from the national treasury and pillaging our commonwealth.
“It thrives on cronyism, tribalism, nepotism, undue favouritism, clannishness, religious bigotry, ethnic chauvinism and ethno-religious jingoism. It abhors merit. It detests brilliance. It enthrones mediocrity. As a principle, “come and chop” politics advocates that the strongest continuously pummels and subdues the strong into a comatose position of irreversibility, while the already weak ones are battered into oblivion and totally interred or entombed alive.
“The Nigerian politician (sorry, politrician) is at once a “Militrician” (Military top brass turned into politicians and “Civitrician” (civilians practising politics). The Nigerian Politician has corrupted politics and madly stripped it of its inherent nobility and integrity.
“Like common whores, they prostitute from one political party to another, never ashamed to return to an earlier party that he left with éclat and celebration to eat his vomit. Whether the party is PDP, APC, AD, APP, AC, ACN, CPC, ANPP, the Nigerian Politician gallivants about shamelessly, strutting from one party to the other. He lacks morality. He is allergic to political decorum or democratic nuances. He is a loose cannon. The same political class rotates offices amongst themselves. The same faces, but different offices. Once a local government chairman, he aspires to be member of a state House of Assembly; then House of Representatives; then Senate.
“Later, he leaves Senate to become a Governor; or from his gubernatorial seat to become a Senator. Over the years, it is the same dramatis personnel. No new entrants. No fresh ideas. Power is rotated from father to son, mother to daughter, brother to brother and kinsman to kinswoman. Little wonder that Nigeria has not grown. Even her purported development has been without actual and real development. She continues to suffer the fate of the barber’s chair of perpetual motion and rotation on its axis, but without progress. Her growth is stunted, for there is no manure or fertilizer to resuscitate the parched soil.”
On OZEKPEDIA, therefore, do not blame me or come after my jugular for daring to challenge Collins, Websters, Blacks and Oxford English Dictionaries. This was how Andrew Le Breton first conceptualized 28 Volumes of the Encyclopedia in French. It was later translated by Dennis Diderot, an 18th Century French Philosopher, Art Critic and writer, between 1751 and 1772. Indeed, it was actually an avid writer and admirer, who after following my writeups for a very long time, sent me the coinages – “OZEKPEDIA”, “OZEKMATICS” and “OZEKDICTIONARY”. He was referring to many of my writeups, including those on the requirement that the Nigerian President must compulsorily need to have 25% votes of FCT, Abuja; and my linguistics; syntax and prose style. I thank him immensely.
Thus, as at today, we have ENCYCLOPEDIA (1751-1772); SMITHSONIA (1846); WIKIPEDIA (2001); SCHOLARPEDIA (2006); LEGALPEDIA (2007); and EUROPEDIA (2008). Now, enters OZEKPEDIA (2023). So, help me God. Amen.
OZEKPEDIA AND BUHAROCRACY
Nigeria had her independence on October 1, 1960. She was however totally severed off the umbilical cord of imperialism in 1963 – when she became a Republic. Since then, the story of her leadership travails has become an unending tragedy; a cesspool and affront on the labours of our heroes past. The Nigerian polity became engulfed in the grip of series of military juntas under the thin guise of salvaging the decaying system. This went on until 1999, when a democratic government was ushered in. This year makes it 24 years of uninterrupted democracy. But it seems – like a man with a heavy load of web on his face – that Nigeria is still undergoing a vicious cycling and recycling of her leaders, de – die – in – diem.
In times of much uncertainty and untrammeled corruption bazaar, Nigeria was so unfortunate to have been governed by an apparently pretentious man who was almost deified and canonized. Buhari, like a man who never believes that once beaten, twice shy – ensured that Nigeria was beaten twice by the same man – Buhari. First as a military dictator. Later as a civilian ruler (not a democratic leader, in my humble estimation). I hope we are now awake from our self-imposed slumber and selective amnesia in this democracy.
NIGERIA IS FAR FROM PRACTISING DEMOCRACY
Strictu sensu, Nigeria, in my humble view, does not practise democracy. Rather, we practise other “cracies” (not democracy), which I have coined from my dictionary – Ozekpedia. These are Judocracy, Electionocracy, Executocracy, Selectocracy and Legislatocracy. (See https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93SFQYIpkpU; https://www.page36news.com/2021/10/02/mike-ozekhome–says-we-are-not-practicing-democracy-in-nigeria-declares-that-what-we-have-under-president-muhammadu-buhari-others-is-election-ocracy-where-the-leaders-elect-themselves-into-office-o/amp/;
BUHAROCRACY
I have today, added another “cracy”, but this particular cracy is crazy – ‘Buharocracy.’ Buharocracy is a type of cracy, where government is ‘abysmally ignoramus, zero-idealistic, and dictatorially at it’s crescendo.’ Little wonder, popular African singer, late Anikulapo-Kuti, in one of the ‘Abami Eda’s songs, “Beast of No Nation”, sang, “Na craze world be dat, craze world, No be outside Buhari dey, craze world, na craze man be dat, craze world.” (See https://punchng.com/fans-remember-felas-lyrics-on-democracy-day/). Fela warned us then, but Nigerians feigned deafness; maybe because they said he smoked weed. Nigerians forgot that to be fore-warned, is to be fore-armed. Former President of America, Barrack Obama, once admonished, “I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy, and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics.”
Oh, see where our refusal and neglect to pay attention to history have landed us!. Leadership, to be sure, would also be accounted for in the last days of human existence. Taking solace from the Bible; “Blessed are you, o land, whose King is of nobility and whose instructions Princes eat at the appropriate time – for strength and not for drunkenness.” An Islamic cleric, Ma’qil narrated, “I heard Rasulullah (SAW) saying: “Any man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise.” (Sahih Muslim).
John G. Lake, once told us, “the man with a groan never moved the world except to more groans.” Buhari tried very hard to flourish himself like a saint in white apparel, when in fact, he was the chief repository of negative governance. Therefore, Stanley Baldwin was not wrong when he said, “Dictatorship is like a giant beech – tree – very magnificent to look at in it’s prime, but nothing grows underneath.” Where have the 8 wasted years of the once feared “anti – corruption Czar” led us to today? I don’t know. Or, do you?
The voyage of Nigeria since May 29, 2015, through May 29, 2023, (being the second and final coming of Buharocracy), amounted to a craze of all cracies.
There are many “cracies” corrupted from the word “Democracy”, as shown in Ozekpedia above. When Abraham Lincoln on 19th November, 1863, eulogized “Democracy” during his Gettysburg Declaration as “government of the people by the people and for the people”, he could never have imagined that subsequent world leaders would corrupt this beautiful term invented by the ancient Athenians of Greece in 507 BC, following a turbulent era of aristocracy and tyranny. “Demos” derived from Greek, meaning “people”, or “population”. “Crasy” means “rule”, “government”, “governing body”. So, democracy is government of the people.
BUHAROCRACY AND ITS EFFECT
Buharocracy is a form of government where the people expect so much, but get nothing; or at best, so little in return. It is a system of government in which the ruler, during campaigns and in his manifesto, promises so much; but brazenly discards and trashes all promises upon being voted in by the people. In Buharocracy, the ruler freely deceives the people. He is a maximum dictator, rules by precepts, rather than by examples. The concept allows the ruler to ride slipshod on his people; destroy institutions, enkindle divisions; and enthrone cyronynism, prebendalism, nepotism, favouritism, ethnicity, sectionalism, tribalism and religious bigotry.
Under Buharocracy, rule of law is literally suspended in place of so called National Security, a veneer for self interest or government interest. Under Buharocracy, the elected rules, rather than governs. He tells the people, “do what I say and not what I do”. Because the ruler suffers grave disconnect with the people, he feigns amnesia of their sufferings and despondency. He neither sympathises, nor empathises. He lives in a make-belief world; a world garnished with grandeur of illusion. The ruler is permitted to discard his hitherto pretentious Spartan-like life. He indulges in vain-glorious affluence, pomp, pageantry and razzmatazz. Kakaaki trumpets escort him to the airport when travelling, and also welcome him back from his frequent medical trips abroad. The maximum dictator under Buharocracy is deaf, dumb and numb to the feelings, yearnings and aspirations of his beleaguered and vanquished citizens rendered prostrate through misgovernance, high-handedness, corruption, insecurity and jack-bootism. He would rather build rail lines, refineries and industries in a neighbouring country like Niger, wherein he has his own firm roots of origin, to the detriment of his own country – Nigeria – that elected him into office. Restructuring and true federalism are an anathema to Buharocracy. That is Buharocracy for you. And more …
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If coordinated properly, they have the capacity and numbers to upstage APC, from national politics.
If they manage to do it, it will be well-deserved.
The neo-liberal economic policies embarked on by BAT has shrunk the economy brutally.
The country has shrunk far more economically after removing fuel subsidy, particularly when electricity is still non-existent, raising production costs infinitely and lowering spending, making it a double-whammy for millions.
Electricity costs have been double even when its generation, distribution and transmission hasn’t improved significantly blunting claims of Nigerians needing to pay humongous amounts if they want electricity, even if several examples exist of Countries in the Global South with far more reasonable electricity charges with even more access to electricity.
Let’s now add devaluation, that skyrocketed costs of goods in an import-dependent economy and ran more millions into penury.
War-level inflation, rising costs of living, food prices off the ceiling.
And what they have been told is that, that is the only way to rejig the economy.
The supposed billions stolen by subsidy thieves hasn’t been retrieved, and perpetrators jailed.
Customs officials that permit fuel smuggling that justified subsidy removal weren’t arrested and jailed.
Yet, the people who weren’t responsible for these lapses were told to stomach these lapses and adjust to “SAP” tightening adjustments.
Minimum wage of 70k has still not been paid, what was done was a cynical 40k wage award across levels. This after fuel went from 185 to over 900 naira in some places, and skyrocketing prices of goods quarter-by-quarter.
In 2000, When Olusegun Obasanjo raised minimum wage from 250naira to 5500 naira, and Federal civil servants pay raised from 3500 to 7500, it triggered the phrase “GBEMU AREMU” (Aremu’s Largesse) that raised national income and subsequent spending across several sectors.
Teachers would buy Opel cars prompting applause when it was announced on assembly grounds, and several civil servants started building houses leading to a construction boom.
Federal contractors are being owed despite government claims of record revenues, and gaslighting statements of more allocations being accrued to Governors.
Let us now go back to pet peeves about allocation of projects.
Gilbert Chagoury’s HITECH got awarded the “Lagos-Calabar coastal road”
The same Chagoury’s HITECH got the Sokoto-Badagry road.
The same HITECH was awarded Benin-Akure-Ilesha road.
Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road was taken from Julius Berger and handed to HITECH.
Chagoury’s ITB also got $700m port revamp contract.
BAT says Alex Zingman who got the $250m contract to bring in tractors from Belarus is his friend.
When major contracts are given to closet accolytes in a family&friends scheme, how will the economy grow, when fairness is out of the window.
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This is the samee Chagoury who returned $66million to Switzerland to get his conviction expunged.
He paid $300million to Nigeria’s government to protect him from prosecution for his role in helping General Sani Abacha loot the country by transferring National funds abroad.
Abacha’s special friend tha helped launder money abroad is BAT’s advisor and confidante whose companies get no-bidding contracts and people are to keep quiet.
Yet, APC stalwarts will attempt to gaslight people by saying “Relax, economy is getting better, BAT knows what he is doing”, even when diaspora Nigerians who come into the country exchange their Pounds and USD into Naira, and still cannot cope with the skyrocketing prices.
People are being told to sacrifice, while they see the Presidency buy yatch, new vehicles and Presidential Jet.
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By Ayo Oyoze Baje
“When a leader encourages the culture of impunity, the society is lost and it makes the work harder for the rest of us”
– Prof. Wole Soyinka
One of the bitter facts about striking the delicate balance between criminality and justice is that if the perpetrators of sundry crimes are either treated with kid gloves, or left to walk our streets as free men, some others would view such as the best way to go. Unfortunately, from the persisting challenge of insecurity through the reckless squandering of public funds by some favoured political helmsmen to budget padding, crass impunity has remained the middle name of our democratic dispensation, sad to note.
For instance, recently Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), criticized both the Federal and Benue State Governments for consistently failing to prosecute suspects arrested in connection with violent attacks that have resulted in the killing spree in Benue State. In the statement issued under the platform of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), of which he is the Chairman Falana lamented that although hundreds of suspects have been arrested over the years for crimes ranging from illegal possession of firearms to mass killings and kidnapping, most of them are never charged.
To him President Bola Tinubu’s recent directive to the Nigeria Police Force to arrest and prosecute all those involved in the latest wave of violence in the state is potentially symbolic.He pointed out that previous arrests had not led to convictions or justice for victims. Falana also berated the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, for alleging that residents of Yelwata community provided shelter for the killers. He described the statement as an attempt to shift blame onto victims instead of addressing the systemic failures of security and governance.
Such a sordid situation triggers the burning questions. Is the life of the voiceless victims not important to humanity in general and the country in particular? Are the perpetrators of the scary insecurity ravaging the country that has sent hundreds of thousands of innocent souls to their early graves more valued than that of the defenceless citizens? What is so difficult in identifying the sponsors, who arm them to kill fellow citizens and bring them to justice?
It is a similar situation when it comes to profligacy with regards to the way and manner some politicians squander public funds. Only recently there was disagreement between the National Assembly and the BudgIT over the issue of budget padding to the stupendous amount of N6.93 trillion in the 2025 federal government’s budget. Yet, some Nigerian contractors have remained unpaid for about a year! And there are allegations about some of them awarded contracts without going through the fiscal policy relating to the budget. That runs against Section 5 (b) of the Public Procurement Act. That is impunity, is it not? Yes, it is. But the pain in all of these is that the culture of impunity in places high and low has been with us for eons.
As yours truly highlighted through an opinion essay back in April 2017 all the hue and cry that trailed the probe into the $10billion(or is it $16 billion) sleaze in the power sector years back has long suffered from what physicists call the Doppler Effect, or died a Nigerian “natural death”. And as one warned back then that “was not the first time and it may not likely be the last unless government musters the much needed political will to bring the perpetrators to book.” But is the situation any better today? The answer is patently obvious.
These days we read about the humungous amounts, even in dollars found stashed in the private vaults of some former public office holders. From local government council chairmen to senators and governors, it is a recurring ugly decimal of national shame. But some hungry and disenfranchised poor citizens caught for stealing fowls and goats are either sent behind bars or hounded to hell!
It speaks volume about how those in government interpret words such as accountability, probity and transparency. It demeans us all as a people that those vested with the sacred trust of holding the destiny of men and materials of a country as vast as Nigeria are allowed to go Scot-free after committing various heinous crimes against the state. No one talks about the $12 billion Gulf War windfall again because some people are above the law. Not a few former state governors were once paraded by the EFCC as suspected to have siphoned state funds for self-aggrandizement.But years later some of them have the audacity to want to go back to their former offices, or find their ways to the hallowed Red chamber to make laws for you and yours truly. All these happen because of the insidious culture of impunity
As it was between 2015-2023, one is not surprised, therefore, that some corrupt politicians who defected from the PDP to the ruling APC are surreptitiously enjoying some ignoble immunity. It has happened before. All of these make a mockery of our judiciary process. Many of the proceedings are centuries away from the Information Technology and Communication(ICT) age as obsolete type – writers are still used for recording purpose. Series of laughable injunctions take over the well scripted drama of the absurd, characterized by the shameless display of former politicians suspected of grievous financial crimes, raising their hands in bravado as their paid praise worshippers fan their battered and bruised ego.
It is little of a surprise therefore, that virtually all notable institutions of government; from ministries to departments and agencies have in the past years of our democratic experience been probed for one fraud or the other. But after years of turning their searchlight to unveil the rattling skeletons in their cupboards, nothing meaningful comes out of it.
To several of those accused of such financial misdemeanor Nigeria is one big, slumbering elephant to be milked dry. And the easiest way to have a piece of the national cake is to get elected or appointed into any plum political post. But for how long can we go on this way? Not much longer, I dare say.
Corruption, which is a debasement of set moral values and a violation of standard professional ethics is like a two – edged sword that cuts both the victim and the misguided beneficiary. When those who have short changed the system are not brought to speedy justice it emboldens others with similar criminal inclinations to commit worse crimes.
It is responsible, as in the Nigerian politico-economic situation for the countless pot hole – riddled roads, the epileptic power supply, pervasive preventable diseases and mass youth employment that have turned into daylight monsters haunting us all.
As one admonished the then President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in 2017 so I do now to the President Bola Tinubu-led government. To shame all critics he must muster the political will, backed with the enabling laws by the National Assembly to transform both the EFCC and the ICPC into well toothed bulldogs that bark and bite. And no one, no matter his political persuasion, must be above the rule of law. As Isabel Allende aptly stated: ” Nothing is as dangerous as power with impunity”.
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Opinion
Skills Acquisition: Way Forward for Nigeria’s Educational Development
Published
3 weeks agoon
June 19, 2025By
Eric
By Ayo Oyoze Baje
“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways” – Robert Greene
As concerned Nigerians keep deliberating on the best way to navigate the twists and turns inherent in our education delivery system, if yours truly has his way secondary school students should be spending three days of each week for theoretical knowledge and two for practical skills development. These include skills such as tailoring/fashion design, hair dressing and carpentry. Others include building construction, painting, domestic farming, singing, acting, oratory and comedy.
This has become more expedient because in 2023, Nigeria ranked 100th out of 100 countries in Coursera’s Global Skills Report in terms of skill proficiency. Incidentally, the country also ranked low within the Sub-Saharan Africa, placed 12th out of 13 countries.In fact, other African nations such as Botswana and Cameroon outperformed Nigeria in the same report. This was an indication of a significant skills gap in the country. But recent indicators suggest an increase performance that should be built on. For instance, Nigeria showed the fourth-highest year-on-year growth rate for Professional Certificates enrollments on Coursera. This clearly suggests a growing awareness and participation in skills development initiatives which should be built on.
For instance, the unemployment rate in Nigeria stands at about 4.84% in 2025, according to Statista. com. This translates to an estimated 5.74 million people who are unemployed. Similarly, the youth unemployment rate is around 7.50% according to Trading Economics.
Given the current global influence of information technology, the expanding impact of Artificial intelligence ( AI ) and the soaring influence of climate change. Others include the increasing need to ride the freaky waves of economic survival, and the stifling space for employment, not only in Nigeria but across the globe. Yet, the country is abundantly blessed with rare talents in different fields of human endeavour.
Mention names such as Silas Adekunle, known for his robotics expertise and the world’s first intelligent gaming robot or Riya Karumanchi, who invented a device to assist visually impaired individuals the importance of skills acquisition in the development of the talents of our youth gradually dawns on us.
It is a similar scenario when the name of
Hassan and Hussaini Muhammad, who created a way to convert petrol, water, salt, and alum into hydrogen cooking gas crop up. And out there there are other young Nigerian inventors such as Khalifa Aminu (FM transmitter), Muazzam Sani (remote-controlled car), and the team behind the smart walkway light and automatic irrigation. The importance of skills acquisition cannot therefore, be over emphasized.
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Put in its simple terms, skills acquisition is crucial for Nigerian students academic development, because it enhances their employability, as well as boosts entrepreneurship. In fact, it contributes to overall national development. According to experts on educational development it empowers students to be self-reliant, reduces poverty and unemployment, and also provides them with a global perspective.
The impact and import of students’s skills acquisition is amply deployed in Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun state. There, students are exposed to the practical aspect of whatever course they are studying such that seasoned professionals are invited to deliver the practical aspect of their theoretical knowledge.Such is the impact that engineering students have become problem solvers. They have constructed pavements, fences, designed and built solid infrastructure.
Furthermore, the Centre for Agricultural Technology and Entrepreneurial Studies (CATES) has come up as a key initiative at the same university. As a noble cause it was established to foster practical, solution-oriented approaches to agricultural and entrepreneurial development within the university and the wider community. The skills promoting aspect of it is that CATES focuses on areas such as poultry technology, aquaculture, cassava farming, and mushroom culture. It also operates a vegetable farm and a plantain farm on campus. All these explain why graduates of the citadel of knowledge become self employed, with several of them kick starting the process right from the University as undergraduates. All these boost their financial independence while they contribute to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
Skills acquisition therefore,
increases employability, more so in today’s competitive job market. Having relevant skills makes students more attractive to employers. These include skills such as digital literacy, communication, and problem-solving, which are highly valued across various industries.Entrepreneurship programs teach them how to start and manage their own businesses. This eventually, leads to economic growth and improved living standards with appreciable Human Development Index, HDI. By equipping students with practical skills, skill acquisition programs can assist to lift individuals and families out of the terrifying trap of poverty and ultimately reduce the unemployment rate for the country.
From the global perspective, many skills are transferable across borders. This is one good lesson learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nigerian students can latch on it to participate in the global economy through remote work or international collaborations. It also fosters confidence in students, assist them to adapt to the global socio-economic dynamics,while instilling a sense of accomplishment in them, thereby contributing to overall personal growth.
Of great significance, is that
a skilled workforce is essential for the nation’s economic growth and technological advancement. Overall, the skill acquisition programs contribute to building a more productive and innovative society. So Nigeria work on the report which highlighted specific skill areas where it lags, especially technology and data science.
Nigeria should also learn from countries that stand out for their high levels of skill acquisition and development. These include Northern European nations such as Finland, Norway, and Sweden which consistently rank high, along with Switzerland, Singapore, and Germany. These countries often prioritize education, training, and creating opportunities for their populations to acquire and utilize a wide range of skills. As rightly noted by Malcolm X: ” Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”.
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