An educationist, Mrs Cecilia Adekitan, has urged both secondary school leavers and university graduates to learn handwork for them to be self-reliant.
Adekitan is the Principal of Vocational Training and Skills Acquisition Centre, Igboye, in Epe Division of Lagos State.
She told the Newsmen in Eredo-Epe on Wednesday that the advice had become necessary in order to rescue Nigerian graduates from seeking employments that were not available.
“If 60 per cent of school leavers and graduates acquire skills’ acquisition training, nearly 80 per cent of the unemployment challenges facing the country will be solved,” she added.
She listed the skills that could be acquired to include: Adult literacy, cosmetology, catering and hotel management, hats and beads’ making, computer studies and textile design.
Adekitan who said that those skills were being taught at the centre, however, decried the shortfall of students gaining admissions into the centre.
She said, “The numbers of students currently in the centre have reduced drastically compared to the past years.
“We used to have close to 200 students on yearly basis in the past, but recently, hardly do we have 50 students in the whole school.
“We need more students from within and outside the neighborhood to register in the training school.”
Adekitan also appealed to the traditional rulers, religious and political leaders in the community to encourage children from the area to enroll in the centre.
“This will help them to become self-employed and be engaged in one viable activity or the other and possibly become employers of labour in future.
“An idle mind is a devil’s workshop, but, once the children are engaged, it will reduce social vices in the society.
“Such children will also not be a burden to their parents,” she said.
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