This I see all the time in my Cyber Cafe in downtown Abuja. Lots of students in mid 20 year old age groups. I agree about students wanting certificates and credentials before they enter the work place.

The 6-3-3-4 system was a laudable idea but a woeful failure. It was meant to result in the building of technical manpower by identifying those who were more technically inclined and putting them on a training path that would eventually have a spillover effect in technical capacity building and competencies. We must go back to encouraging vocational education and entrepreneurship and not just the acquisition of paper qualifications that are worthless. For those who are creativity inclined, check out FACA.

Fashion Art and Creatives Academy is the vocational skills transfer arm of House of Henri which has trained over 1500 people. House of Henri is an integrated multi-division company focused on the creative industry. The fashion division of House of Henri won the Nigeria Best Fashion Designer for 2005/2006 of the Nigeria Fashion Show.
We currently offer training courses in Fashion Design, Bridals, Soft Furnishings and Interior Décor, Millinery, Jewelry Craft, Makeover Artistry, Photography, Events Decor and Modeling.
Our goal is to add value to people who want to start or grow a career in the Fashion, Art and Creative industries by imparting to them invaluable technical skills. The programmes prepare our students for careers in the local and global Creative Industries including Fashion, Art, and Design. With these skills they can start or grow a business as a means of livelihood or as an additional stream of income. In the event that they decide to further their education within or outside the country the skills learned can be used as entry level requirements to higher institutions and they would have been given a strategic leverage and head start that will make them excel. We also believe that beyond the typical white collar jobs, every man or woman should have a skill or learn a trade that they can fall back on at any point in time.
Our courses take a highly practical approach, focusing on extensive hands on exercises by our students. Our method breaks down sometimes difficult concepts into easy to learn steps bringing the student up to speed. We have been able to prove again and again through the success of our students that the knowledge and skill that takes up to four years to learn through the mentor-apprentice method that typically obtains in the industry, takes less than a year to acquire at Fashion and Art Academy . We also have best selling books on some of our courses published under the "Easy Learn" series that take our students step-by-step through the learning process.
We run a rolling admission system, which means when you are ready to start, we are also ready for you. We can also help with accommodation arrangements at guest houses or student hostels depending on your preference separately. For us to know your exact training needs and how you can be part of the Fashion Art and Creatives Academy kindly call us on 08023290830 or 01-8783390. Or better still come to the school at 6, Sabiu Ajose Str., Off Adeniran Ogunsanya, Behind Skye Bank, Surulere, Lagos.

I think we should have working experience b4 we seek admision to any higher institute, so dat ur working experience will be use after school, and due to lack of good active leaders and political problem.

I think we should have working experience b4 we seek admision to any higher institute, so dat ur working experience will be use after school, and due to lack of good active leaders and political problem.

c,thecc,then its important to survive before you innovate.

olas2u:

Nigeria is developing country it will take decades to reach that point you have described,developing countries need to create ideas,innovate ideas .You are still painting the picture of certificates to us.India is a country with 1billion people,The educational sysytem there is better than that of nigeria.They have a sytem that encourages skill.student go to school for just 3 hrs because of the population ,they have 3 batches of students.what they learn in 3hrs is not what the Nigeria secondary student that left at 8 and closses at 2 will learn.even with all the certificates in Nigeria,foreigners dominate everywhere, Oil,telecoms,even An home grown company dangote is powered by indians.

olas2u:

Nigeria is developing country it will take decades to reach that point you have described,developing countries need to create ideas,innovate ideas .You are still painting the picture of certificates to us.India is a country with 1billion people,The educational sysytem there is better than that of nigeria.They have a sytem that encourages skill.student go to school for just 3 hrs because of the population ,they have 3 batches of students.what they learn in 3hrs is not what the Nigeria secondary student that left at 8 and closses at 2 will learn.even with all the certificates in Nigeria,foreigners dominate everywhere, Oil,telecoms,even An home grown company dangote is powered by indians.

Dont get it wrong,i understand what you are saying,i am not looking at it from the point of survival,since our needs in Africa generally are still basic,then its important we survive first before we innovate.But before waec had woodwork,mechanics and capententry.something went wrong,it was the military.But you know is painful to see foreigners everywhere without restriction,and the nigerian is shouting no job.You cannot see nigerians working in india.Welders in the oild industry are imported.Are you saying a Nigerian cannot weld does pipes.look every thursday airfrance brings to Nigeria french nationals to work in the LnG project,which kind of skill is that,you cannot send one nigerian on a course then he comes back to train a lot of people.Are salves in our country.Even some locations in nigeria now collect dollars as house rent,neglecting the Nigerian currency.

marabout:

Poster, I think you are just talking of your limited experience about what obtains here in the UK.  You cannot generalise like that.

My colleagues in health schools across UK, over 30% have a PhD, some 55%  an MSc so you can imagine how many have a BSc. I am talking of people in health schools at Oxbridge, Imperial College and University of Lodon (UCL, GKT, Queen Mary, Saint George's). That's people I know. I am one of those who left it late. But a superb (public) secondary education back home in the good old days stood me in good stead.

Things have changed here in the last decade. Certain areas are a lot more competitive and you have people who have reached the peak in other careers switching. Recent economic crisis has made many people who missed out on uni (either because of the belief that you don't need uni or didn't make the grade back then), to return to uni.
Germany is another country with a lot of mature undergrads. We all know that they one of the most advanced countries. It is quite common for civil servants there to have several degrees.

Many of those people applying for 1st job at 28 in Nigeria only just managed to go to uni through sheer determination.  Many would have liked to graduate at 21 if they had been taken to London. Let those with opportunity realise that not every has it.
My niece graduated in Naija at the age of 19. She now works for an insurance company. Her parents were able to afford sending her to uni a year before she was due to finish secondary.

A program on TV 3 years ago in the UK showed that Nigerians, the French followed by Indians spend the longest time at Uni. Because they they do longer and more degrees. It is widely seen as an achievement.

In the future these well-trained Nigerians both at home and abroad will turn out to be the only true resource Nigeria actually has. Forget about oil that will dry up or become irrelevant one day when the West get a cheap enough alternative. Even the theory-trained people at home will be easier to teach practical if things fall in place.

Nice points, but we don't have a system in place to support all these extra education. We need to have a strong base, first of all. We also need to have the right mix of skill and education. Nigerians seem to have mostly education in non-skilled areas. We seem to have a lot more of accountants, economists, etc, rather than technically skilled people, scientists and engineers. Without skilled folks, we won't have innovators, and we won't have industries or jobs. You seem to be comparing Nigeria to the UK, a nation with a highly-developed social system. Nigeria is nowhere near being able to sustain a welfare state, despite the oil money.

Mind that all these well-educated folks still need a job. Who's going to find them a job? The state? Not in Nigeria, obviously.

Compare no other country to nigeria. Can nigeria gain better economy anymore?

dudu_dudu:

Compare no other country to nigeria. Can nigeria gain better economy anymore?

Of course! we need roughly 30% highly skilled citizens, 30% semi-skilled human and 30% others, and as time goes by these figures will float according to what he economy demands, an economist graduate working as cashier in a bank is a waste of government susidized education, a wasteloss in the long term to the company as she will get bored and chase bigger dreams after collecting more in house training

more emphasis should be on HND and work experience

This thread is spot on