Kogi Poly Convocation: Don Advocates Skills-Based Education »

The 5th Convocation Lecture of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, on Thursday delivered a strong call for Nigeria to urgently reposition its education system towards skills acquisition as a pathway to sustainable development and economic growth.

Delivering the lecture titled “Education for Sustainable Development in Nigeria” at the Polytechnic’s main campus, the guest lecturer, Professor Christian Ezeibe, Dean of Students, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, decried what he described as Nigeria’s “dangerous obsession with certificates at the expense of competence.”

Professor Ezeibe said Nigeria produces hundreds of thousands of graduates annually, yet industries continue to rely heavily on expatriates due to a shortage of skilled technical manpower. He cited data from the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), noting that Nigeria spends billions of dollars yearly importing technical expertise.

“We have perfected the ritual of schooling but lost the essence of learning. A certificate is a license to learn; a skill is the capacity to build, fix, innovate and solve problems,” he said.

Using extensive national and international data, the convocation lecturer highlighted the paradox of rising graduate unemployment alongside unfilled technical vacancies across key sectors such as power, construction, manufacturing and petrochemicals. He warned that this mismatch continues to stifle industrialisation, worsen unemployment and deepen Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis.

Professor Ezeibe reaffirmed that polytechnics were originally designed to serve as the backbone of Nigeria’s industrial workforce, stressing that the neglect of technical education has undermined national development. He lamented challenges confronting Nigerian polytechnics, including poor funding, obsolete equipment, weak industry linkages, societal stigma and the persistent HND/BSc dichotomy.

Drawing lessons from countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, China and South Korea, the UNN don said their rapid development was driven not by certificate accumulation but by deliberate investments in technical and vocational education aligned with industry needs.

“Theory designs the world, but skills build it,” he declared.

He also referenced ongoing skills-focused initiatives in Nigeria, including programmes by the National Directorate of Employment, the 3 Million Technical Talent initiative and state-level interventions, but observed that poor coordination and limited scale have reduced their overall impact.

Speaking on the local context, Professor Ezeibe said Kogi State’s abundant solid minerals, agricultural potential and strategic location could only translate into real development through a skilled technical workforce. He urged polytechnic graduates to see Nigeria’s challenges as opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship rather than obstacles.

Commending private sector efforts such as the Dangote Group’s investment in technical training, he stressed that industrial projects demand competence, precision and safety, not sentiment.

In his concluding charge, the lecturer called on the Federal Government to declare a National Skills Emergency, increase funding for technical institutions and abolish discriminatory academic classifications. He urged the Kogi State Polytechnic management to deepen industry partnerships and continuously update curricula, while challenging graduates to redefine themselves as solution providers.