‘Polytechnics should be more popular than varsities'

A country blessed with numerous natural resources should have its polytechnics more popular than its varsities. But on the contrary, students attending polytechnics see it as a stopgap and cannot wait to secure admission into universities.

That was the submission of the Chief Executive Officer, Lonadek Engineering, Dr. Ibilola Amao, while delivering a keynote address at a media parley organised by the Nigerian Academy of Science on Friday.

In her keynote address entitled, “Investing in youths and building their capacities — Pathway for national transformation,” Amao decried the focus on paper qualification at the expense of skill development, entrepreneurship and technical education available in the nation’s polytechnics.

“Most of the polytechnic students are there because they could not get into universities in the first place. For a country blessed with natural resources, the polytechnics should be the main drivers and educational hub where resources can be translated into finished products,” she said.

Discussing the outcome of a research study conducted by her outfit, Ibilola said only 57 out of 147 accredited universities in Nigeria offer engineering courses, while none of the 123 graduates seeking employment passed the numerical analysis test.

According to her, it is ironic that youth unemployment remains a huge burden while there are many under-utilised potential and opportunities in the area of refining, petrochemicals and energy where the youths can add value and become entrepreneurs.

While recommending that government should focus on processing technology based on the pre-1952 resource map, Ibilola also urged stakeholders to identify societies and organisations around every sector that will help stimulate development in the sector.

“If you stimulate the performance of the youths, you are going to get solutions to society’s problem. At the local government level, we need to have competitions on vocations. The government needs to give merit awards to 18-35 years old who are game changers and are providing solutions to the society,” she sai