Declare National Skills Emergency to Tackle Underdevelopment, Poverty — Don Urges Government
A university don, Prof. Christian Ezeibe, has called on governments at all levels to declare a ‘national skills emergency’ as a strategic response to Nigeria’s persistent underdevelopment and widespread poverty.
Prof. Ezeibe made the call while delivering the convocation lecture at the 5th Combined Convocation Ceremony of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja.
The don, who is the Dean of Student Affairs, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, stressed that Nigeria’s overemphasis on certificates at the expense of practical competence has weakened the country’s productive capacity and stifled sustainable development.
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Speaking on the theme, “Skills Over Certificates: Repositioning Technical Education for Sustainable Development,” Prof. Ezeibe said Nigeria must urgently invest in skills acquisition if it hopes to compete with developed nations.
“Nigeria has perfected the ritual of schooling but has lost the essence of learning. We have become a nation that worships certificates while neglecting the competence those certificates are meant to represent,” he said.
Quoting figures from the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Ezeibe noted that Nigeria spends over $10 billion annually on expatriate services and remittances, much of it paid to foreign technical personnel from India, China and the Philippines.
“In the power sector alone, despite billions of naira invested, we still depend on foreign technicians to maintain our turbines and grid infrastructure. This dependence is a clear indictment of our skills deficit,” he added.
The university don explained that while certificates merely certify knowledge, skills empower individuals to create value.
“A certificate is a licence to learn, but a skill is the capacity to do, to create and to solve problems. The global economy today, driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution—robotics, artificial intelligence, IoT and biotechnology—rewards demonstrable skills, not just attested knowledge,” he said.
Drawing lessons from global success stories, Prof. Ezeibe cited Singapore, Taiwan and China as countries that deliberately prioritised technical and vocational education.
“Under Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore made Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) the cornerstone of its economic strategy. The Institute of Technical Education is not for academic failures; it is prestigious and highly sought-after. Today, Singapore tops global skills competitiveness rankings,” he said.
He also noted that Taiwan’s transformation into a global semiconductor hub was driven by a relentless focus on engineering and technical skills aligned with industry needs, while China adopted a large-scale vocational model that produces millions of skilled workers annually.
“These nations understood a simple truth: theory designs the world, but skills build it. They repositioned technical education from a secondary alternative to the primary engine of national development,” Ezeibe stated.
Identifying Nigeria’s major challenges, the don listed decaying infrastructure, poor funding, weak industry–academia collaboration, societal stigma against technical education and brain drain** as factors slowing skills development.
Despite these challenges, he maintained that skills remain the backbone of sustainable development.
“Nigeria’s problems—power failure, poor sanitation, inefficient agriculture, housing deficit and insecurity—are massive markets waiting to be served by skilled and creative minds,” he said.
He urged graduates to see entrepreneurship as a pathway to prosperity.
“The graduate who can design and install affordable solar micro-grids for rural communities is solving the power problem and creating a million-naira business. The one with masonry, plumbing and electrical skills can build a thriving property maintenance company. The billionaire of tomorrow will be a skill magnate, not just an oil importer,” he declared.
Addressing the graduating students directly, Prof. Ezeibe advised:
“Do not go looking for a job where someone else will solve your problems. Use your skills to solve Nigeria’s problems, and you will never be poor.”
He further called on the Federal Government to scrap the HND–BSc dichotomy, insisting that competence, not paper qualification, should determine employability and career progression.
“There must be deliberate industrial collaboration with polytechnics and technical institutions. Without this, skills development will remain a slogan rather than a solution,” he concluded.
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER, FEBRUARY 7TH 2026)
