The Provost, Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Dr. Emmanuel Adeniyi, has advocated that more attention be placed on technical education as a remedy for graduate unemployment in the country.

Speaking ahead of the institution’s 16th convocation ceremony, Adeniyi lamented the growing rate of unemployment plaguing Nigerian graduates while also taking a swipe at the emphasis on non-technical education by Nigeria’s education policy.

A total of 12,753 regular and part-time students will graduate from the institution during a ceremony that will take place on Tuesday.

The figure includes 79 post-graduate students and 51 students of Advanced Certificate in Education.

“Unemployment is a global phenomenon and it is a worldwide issue affecting countries of the world like Brazil, Greece, Britain, France and Germany. Unfortunately, Nigeria is yet to design a sustainable programme that can end the problem.

“We must bring back and re-invigorate the technical education system if we must find solutions to graduate unemployment in the country,” he said.

While pointing out that funding could hinder the gains of mass production of technical education graduates, the provost called on government to re-design the funding system for youth, who acquire government-supported vocational training.

He also advised that tertiary schools should be attached to existing industries that would provide practising ground for the students while in school.

The provost added, “Every student must learn a vocational skill because this is the only way to make graduates to be self-employed, reliant and sufficient after leaving the school. We have heard of problems relating to funding but government can assist these young graduates with loans without attaching stringent collateral to them. Each school should also be linked to an industry that will need the services of the graduates.

“Here, they will receive the on-the-field training that will improve their employment chances and offer them the rare opportunity to be self-employed. We must bring back technical colleges and make the technical department of every institution very strong so that we can move the country forward.”

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