UTILIZING SKILLACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets were announced by the United Nations (UN) in 2015. The Goals and targets were set to stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet. But five years after the declaration of SDGs by the UN, Nigerians are yet to see the roadmap for its achievement. This paper thus investigated how skill acquisition and development can be utilized to achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria. Two research objectives and two research questions guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population consisted of 120 training instructors operating skill acquisition training centres in Central Business District of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. All the population constituted the sample for the study, using census sampling technique. Ten items structured questionnaire titled “Utilization of Skill Acquisition and Development in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Questionnaire”was used as instrument for data collection. Content validity was used. Apilot study was conducted at Bwari Area Council. A total of 10 copies of the questionnaire were administered to selected training instructors operating skill acquisition training centres within the community. Test-retest method of reliability was used to obtain the internal consistency. The reliability index was obtained through Cornbrash's alpha (0.89). Out of the 120 questionnaires administered, 109 were returned valid, representing 90% success rate. Data analyses were carried out based on the specific objectives and research questions of the study. Data collected was imputed into the SPSS (25) software package where descriptive statistics, in the form of tables were generated. The study discovered among other that many youth prefer to work in government establishments than acquiring skills of craftsmanship for self-employment, skill acquisition and development for selfemployment can ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Recommendations were made among which include that government at all levels should establish vocational skill acquisition and development centres in all the geo-political wards in the country, parents should encourage their children to enroll in informal apprenticeship training programme for skill acquisition and the National Orientation Agency should roll out programmes that would encourage the youth to patronize skill acquisition centres.