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Education that can’t create jobs is useless – Chris Ngige

Published

6 years ago

October 24, 2018

The Minister of Labour and Employment , Dr Chris Ngige , says education that is not directed towards job creation is useless .Ngige , therefore , said there was a need for schools to revise their current curricular to reflect modern challenges and development , according to a statement by the Director of Press at the Ministry of Labour , Samuel Olowookere .

The minister said this in Abuja on Tuesday while addressing a breakfast session of the ongoing National Economic Summit ( # 24 ) in Abuja with the theme , ‘ Multi – Sectoral Roundtable on Job Creation and Skills Development in Nigeria ’ .

He said , “ With a working population of over 80 million , the majority of who are unemployed , we have to do something radical , the narrative must change . School curriculum must change to include new and emerging skills . Education is power but it is useless when it is not in the right direction . We , therefore , must collaborate to solve this problem . ”

The minister emphasised the need for a paradigm shift in approach to job creation as the current efforts might not be sufficient to create the jobs needed to gainfully engage over 80 million people .

In his remarks , the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof . Abubakar Rasheed , expressed the readiness of the commission to partner with organisations and groups to transit Nigeria into a knowledge -based society , thereby facilitating a knowledgeable economy .

Earlier , in his remarks , the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group , Mr Laoye Jaiyeola , stated that individual efforts would not produce the much – needed result on job creation as each organisation was doing something in bits and pieces .