The Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has urged stakeholders in the Nigerian education sector to explore new approaches arguing that the white-collar-focused system can no longer support national development.
Fayemi made the observation in his Keynote Address at the official flag-off of the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in Acquisition of Skills Project at the State House, Abuja, on Monday.
The World Bank which is supporting the IDEAS Project in Ekiti, Edo, Benue, Kano, Abia and Gombe states with a $200m credit facility co-organised the workshop with the Federal Ministry of Education.
Fayemi who was represented by the Ekiti State Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology, Mrs. Olabimpe Aderiye, discussed the theme “Re-engineering the Nigerian mind from white collar to blue collar enterprises”.
According to him, the 21st-century realities require digital, entrepreneurial and vocational skills as supplements to conventional education.
This, he said, is required by any nation that intends to catch up with the rest of the world.
“On a general note, education is an essential aspect of civilization and it is an impetus for individual and societal growth and development. Therefore, no contemporary nation can toy with her educational system because the educational system of a country will speak volumes about her progress.
“The educational system bequeathed to us by our colonial masters and the current system of education in Nigeria are gradually being overtaken by civilization and technological advancement, manifesting in artificial intelligence, automation robotics and the likes, thereby resulting in educational policy summersault and labour market congestion, with its attendant vices.
“Arising from this standpoint, therefore, there is the urgent need to rejig our educational system to proffer solutions to the avalanche of challenges confronting us as a nation. It is high time we tackled the menace with strong determination for a paradigm shift from the white collar to the blue-collar enterprises,” Fayemi noted.
On his part, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said that the successful execution of the IDEAS Project would grow Nigeria’s economy.
Adamu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejoh, noted that the workshop would enable monitoring and evaluation officers to execute their mandates across all four project components.
He thanked the World Bank for supporting the national project launch technical session adding that the training will strengthen the monitoring and evaluation capacity in the IDEAS Project.
Also speaking, the Country Director of World Bank in Nigeria, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri, urged the benefitting states to make judicious use of the funds to improve the education sector in their states.
He said the IDEAS project, when implemented, would address unemployment nationwide.
“It is an important project that is leveraged on the federal and State governments initiatives including producing mid-level technicians with relevant skills both for the formal and informal sectors and developing a sustainable growth for improving youth empowerment and employment,” he said.
