Bekere Amassoma, the Oracle Academy Program Manager, Sub Saharan Africa has called on Nigeria education stakeholders to embrace skills acquisition education as a way forward.
Amassoma made the clarion call while delivering a paper on Advancing Computing Education in Nigeria, on Thursday, November 4, 2021, at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Education Conference and Awards (NECA) organised by the Educational Tide media.
The computer experts said “Well-paying jobs in nearly all fields require computing knowledge. We are dependent on technology for our security, well-being, entertainment, and convenience. There are more technology-related jobs open globally than there are skilled workers to fill those jobs.”
Amassoma counselled governments at various levels and private school owners to collaborate with multinational companies like Oracle and other well-meaning philanthropic Nigerians in ensuring the students are groomed technologically with the needed skills to excel in the global labour market.
“Oracle is a firm committed to advancing computing education globally to increase knowledge, skills development, innovation, and diversity in technology. In Oracle, we offer a free programme for educational institutions, educators, and their students to engage with thousands of educational institutions and educators in more than 120 countries.
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“We help millions of students get hands-on practice in industry-relevant technologies and become career ready,” Amassoma said.
Oracle Academy has a strong footing in the educational landscape of the country with more expansion plans.”
In 2018, Oracle Academy signed a Legal Partnership Agreement (LPA) with the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria to train 4000 computer science educators at the secondary and higher education levels.
Over 800 educators across both education levels have been trained so far in different courses such as Java fundamentals, Database foundations, Java programming, Database Design, and Programming with SQL, among others.
In the same vein, Aliko Dangote, the billionaire business magnate had earlier advocated for a rethink on the quality of graduates being produced by various institutions of learning in Nigeria.
“The majority of those entering the workforce lack the skills required to meet the changing needs of the global economy,” Dangote said.
Dangote stated that up to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people are set to join Africa’s labour force every year for the coming three decades.
“As the World Economic Forum has argued, ensuring we have a strong ecosystem to offer quality jobs, and the skills to match, will be imperative if we are to fully leverage this demographic dividend,” he said.
