I can figure; our consciences are now seared. We no more feel shocked at the news of death, especially of a young vibrant man, whose love for his profession consumed him.
This is a perspective about something bigger than the young Channels Tee Vee reporter, Precious Owolabi, who was gunned down covering a protest that turned violent, in Abuja.
Oh! Spare me of the other issues around it: the emergency response, Police crisis-management strategy, government negligence and, of all, Channels TV’s unprofessional coverage of a potentially violent assignment. Other writers are on it and you can take them on, if you wish!
The late Owolabi embodied one of the last bastions and, perhaps, most-neglected job creation and security system the world has known; traineeship. And the little left of it could have been gunned down with him.
Today, no doubt both apprenticeship and traineeship still hand down better and stronger skill set for the marketplace than the school system, at least the Australian National Skills Institute confirms. There may not be a formal proof of this at home, but it is too clear to be seen if you can hear the HR community’s cries about their experience in trying to recruit graduates.
Australia Skills Institute has also been worried that interest in apprenticeship and traineeship has dropped by 30% in the last five years; only truck driving licensing has spiked during this period.
Just like in most part of the world, recruitment for vocational education has dropped drastically but Nigeria has a unique reason to pay double attention to the system. It may be the only nerve left that can kick the economy back to life.
Of course, back here some of the top professionals in most fields have been lost to bad management of the economy and emigrated, leaving the national skill index in its worst state perhaps comparable only to South East Nigeria after the civil war.
Last week, a popular medical practitioner shared how the whole country is now left with only 15 specialist neurosurgeons. That is criminal, even though truths around that cannot be ascertained.
With the median age of 18.4 for 201.2million population (http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/nigeria-population/) and an alarming school dropout rate, incentivizing apprenticeship and traineeship could be the saving plan from the obvious implosion.
National Bureau of Statistics will need to be empowered along with other necessary organs of the government to document and have a working policy that would make it attractive for corporates and SMEs to absorb apprentices and trainees.
Skill to skill pathway has failed for too long that further slip may worsen the multi-dimensional crises Nigeria is presently grappling with. This goes to back up the failings of the University/Polytechnic job model that we have relied on to feed the job market.
If there is any place to spend the so called “subsidy” on, it is to breathe life to this sector that can in turn get our economy off its knee.
One key signpost along the way is the interesting attribute of the generation we are trying to pull into the system; they are impatient to be mentored. In Australia where there are clean numbers to work with, of the remaining 60% still in vocational net, less than half of them see it through.
It can be worked on, if we have the will to pursue growth from this perspective.
For starters, there are green shoots in this field, but most of them are from Multinationals whose parent companies have policies that encourage mentorship as,perhaps, a way to empower its host economy.
The effect can be deepened. If school funding for Universities is tied, for instance, to verifiable statistics from the NBS or National Career Development Agency, it will compel institutions to be more creative about the value their product (students) have in store for the workplace. Since it will be tied to funding from government, the schools may see reasons to take it serious.
For the corporates, operating licenses, renewals and tax incentives (in fact the chunk of ‘ease of doing business’ incentives) maybe the compelling reason to want to take a dive into the vocational spectrum. For everyone, it will be a win-win.
Overtime, this pathway has led to good employment outcomes than the theoretical model and it still should, if given priority and the result can be repeated. In some climes, a documented 90% success rate of absorption has been recorded with this.
Nigeria presently has a shameful job-loss statistics that won’t be worth anyone’s headache. On the flipside is the touted “Igbo apprenticeship” business model, which though has no numbers to back it, can be seen as struggling over the past decade. My research is word of mouth and experience of relatives.
Employment is a mirage and job loss and unemployment is more real for graduates and the teeming youthful Nigerians making their way through the social ladder. This is the reason for the rise in crime and other ills.
There, however, is another set of the group; the underemployed. And unfortunately, this set which Karl Max referred to as the “Reserve Army of the Unemployed”, outnumber the employed,
As Precious Owolabi is laid to rest, can we once again give life to the chief reason why he became a sacrificial lamb?
Sam Emehelu
Sam Emehelu is a public commentator based in Lagos. He can be reached at [email protected]
