In 2016, the current management of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) unveiled a six-year skills acquisition agenda for Nigerians to correct the age-long erroneous belief that hand-on-the job is “dirty, dangerous and dreaded’ popularly known as 3Ds. In this report, RICHARD ABU looks at the progress, challenges and the way forward for the agency to actualise the plan.
Nigeria inherited a skewed educational system from the British colonial masters which focused on what later became known as 2Rs and W (reading, arithmetic and writing). The system, which placed emphasis on paper qualifications, was designed to meet the manpower needs of the then colonial civil service and the evangelical requirements of the missionaries.
Sadly for the country, its founding fathers sustained this system of education even after the country’s Independence from the British lords. Over the years, Nigeria’s educational system has deteriorated with a serious disconnect of tertiary…
