The National Board for Technical Education has called for a compulsory 50 per cent inclusion of skill acquisition in the curriculum for secondary school students in Nigeria.

During an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, the Executive Secretary of the board, Prof. Idris Bugaje said that enhancing technical education and vocational training for secondary school students would effectively identify talents that could be nurtured into profitable enterprises.

Bugaje urged that the country should expose students to skills at their early stage, to foster their development.

“If you go to Germany that operates a dual system, right from basic education, they expose their children to skills and at the secondary school, students spend three days in schools and three days in the industries,” he said.

“By the time they are ready for higher education, three-quarters of them go to the polytechnics and less than one quarter only go to the university because they have already been exposed to the training received under the dual system.”

Bugaje’s call comes at a time when Nigeria is grappling with a high youth unemployment rate.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the youth unemployment rate in Nigeria was 42.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2022.

Experts believe that skill acquisition is key to addressing the youth unemployment challenge in Nigeria.

They argue that by equipping young people with the skills they need to get jobs, the country can reduce poverty and unemployment.