Rasheed is a plumber. He swears he is a master plumber. Rasheed did the plumbing work in my new flat. Today six months later, there are leaks in several places and my wife is forced to place a bucket permanently under the kitchen sink to ‘capture’ water. He has had to come in a number of times during this period to attempt to ‘rectify’ the problem. When he succeeds in seemingly fixing the problem a fresh set of leaks appear.Rasheed has his own problems. He has his worries. After 12 years as a ‘professional’ plumber, he barely gets by. The termly fees for the children school is a quarterly headache for him. He sees enemies at every corner. The real problem, as I see it, however, is that he doesn’t do the job well enough to get the patronage he needs to improve his fortune.
Sadly, this is the problem is not restricted to Rasheed or only plumbers. Anyone who has had cause to deal with artisans has tales to tell. Their tales are however almost always never pleasant. One can safely say a lot of the electricians, mechanics, carpenters, welders and fridge repairers in the country are alike in one way – they give you more headache than they promise to cure.
Skilled craftsmen are a rarity in these climes.
Careful observation indicates that the root of the problem is really the sort of training available to would-be technicians. A large percentage of artisans learn by rote, a la apprenticeship. Imagine Rasheed teaching another young man the ‘trade’, what quality of work do we expect him to deliver?
Quality artisanship is the bedrock of developed economies. In Germany, England, and China a lot of attention is paid to acquisition of vocational and technical skills. Thus there is a sizeable base of artisans not only skilled in their trade but also taught to learn on the go, keeping abreast of emerging trends.
Nigeria clearly urgently needs to fill the huge technical and vocational skills gap. To achieve this would require critical up-scaling of the facilities, updating of teaching methods and know-hows and improving awareness of the benefits of sound technical training.
The National Policy on Education defines technical and vocational education ‘as a comprehensive term referring to those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life’. Technical education can therefore be seen as the formal training of persons to become technicians in different occupations. Thus any education that is geared towards teaching technical skills and attitudes suitable to such skills can be regarded as technical education.
This sort of training would no doubt help to restrain the malady that is strangling productive and exuberating poverty, UNEMPLOYMENT!
Any discerning person would agree that unemployment today poses a serious problem not only to the welfare of individuals but also to that of their families.
Many able-bodied persons can’t get jobs not only because they lack formal educations but also because they don’t have any useful vocational or technical skills. Indeed with these skills many of today’s unemployed persons may be able to set up on their own. i.e. become self-employed.
To appreciate just how dire the dearth of vocational and technical skills is, consider the recent report by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN): “about N900 billion is spent annually for the importation of skilled artisans from neighbouring countries.” This revelation was contained in a communiqué issued by COREN following a two-day retreat in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
The report also identified inadequate funding, deficiency in basic infrastructure and utilities, inadequate quality teaching staff as well as an apparent lack of interest in technical education as some of the major bottlenecks militating against the nation’s technical colleges.
The government is not unaware of the benefits of technical and vocational institutions. In fact, this is why the institutions were established in the first instance. The problem is that these institutions have suffered varying degree of neglect over the years. Fortunately, in the last half decade, there appears to be a renewed interest in this critical aspect of nation building.
Again thankfully the private sector is also beginning to show appreciable level of interest.
Indeed as late as 2012, the MTN Foundation signed contracts to implement its MTNF Youth Skills Development Project (MTNF YSDP). The MTNF YSDP is designed to support government technical colleges across the country through the provision of modern equipment for up-to-date training and qualification of craftsmen/technicians.
Through the provision of modern equipment, furniture and training for teachers and students, this initiative seeks to improve the level of technical/vocational education while fostering the spirit of self-reliance amongst Nigerian youth.
Four beneficiary colleges signed the agreement with the foundation in the first phase. These institutions are – Government Technical College, Owo, Ondo State, Government Technical College, Ikorodu, Lagos State, Government Technical College, Malali, Kaduna State and Government Technical College, Farfaru, Sokoto State.
Indeed reports indicate that the modern equipment for the six (6) skill areas (i.e. fabrication & welding; plumbing & pipe fitting; electrical installation & maintenance works; instrumentation mechanics, air conditioning & refrigeration; and furniture design & woodwork) have been delivered and installed in the colleges.
Equally, a total of 2,784 units of laboratory furniture (i.e. workshop benches – 240 units; workshop stools – 480 units; student table & chair – 960 units each; teacher table & chair – 48 units each; and white board – 48 units) have been distributed across the four beneficiary colleges.
This is in addition to provision of updated technical training for 48 teachers/lab assistants (12 teachers from each college). A comprehensive intervention if ever there was one.
But the MTNF YSDP is more than just providing infrastructure. It is also focused on teaching students to learn how to learn, to keep abreast with new/emerging trends and to promote the understanding of the value of effective customer service.
As Confucius, the Chinese philosopher noted “the man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” The MTN foundation by its action has started carrying away the small stones. Let other corporations join in. Let the Governments at the various levels begin to explore ways of working with the private sector to boost this sector.
COREN in its report noted that if the nation’s technical colleges were resuscitated, and the apprenticeship system of the informal sector well managed, the skilled artisans produced would not be part of the unemployed youths. This is a fact.
The council members therefore advocated the provision of incentives for technical education such as scholarship for students, and differential pay for technical colleges’ teachers, collaboration with industries to use their facilities to train technical college teachers during long vocation. This is in addition to improving practical content of training, workshop facilities and linkage with industries.
Another useful admonition from the report is for each state of the federation to establish at least one master craft centre to serve as advanced training school for products of technical institutions.
The premise that technical and vocational education prepares one for the world of work with which the individual become reliant and can make contributions to the development of the society is valid. Consequently, more has to be done in this regards to boost vocational and technical education.
Rasheed and his ilk can improve their skills-level through these centres. I am thinking short term practical skill upgrade and remedial courses. Plus the new set of emerging artisans would be up there with the very best in the world.
Improving access to technical and vocational training is a new opportunity to invent or re-invent artisanship in Nigeria. We all can pitch in.
Mr. Eromosele writes in from the Corporate Communications department, MTN Nigeria. {fcomments}
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