Addressing Youth Unemployment, Underemployment and Poverty in Nigeria: The Role of Technical and Vocational Education in National Development

Abstract

While addressing the recent convocation ceremony of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, the Minister of Education, Sam Egwu, assured the millions of unemployed and poor youth lacking employability skills that technical education would enjoy more government support in 2010 because of the role of technology in national development. Such a pronouncement is not new in Nigeria. Previous administrations have raised the people’s hope by painting glowing pictures of their development plans and defined the linkages between technological capability and national development. They also swore that youth empowerment would become the government’s top priority yet successive administrations have refused to properly fund education and failed to prepare the youth for the world of work and to create employment for the millions of graduates churn out by the educational institutions yearly. This paper calls for the leaders to move away from rhetoric to action and tackle the challenges facing education, particularly technological development and create employment for the horde of unemployed youth. Without addressing the challenges facing technical and vocational education the youth will continue to face soaring unemployment, underemployment and poverty and the nation will remain underdeveloped.