Nigeria, a nation where PhD holders desire to be truck drivers

The topic above denotes that of a failed Nation! Indeed, these are rife signs that we are heading for the rocks if things do not take a drastic turn in the nearest future or how can you possibly explain that we are busy engaging our own PhD holders as drivers when in other serious countries, their own Doctorate degree holders are busy in the research world and making amazing discoveries?

Really, we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder in this Nation and it is only a matter of time before it explodes! I will also corroborate former President Olusegun Obasanjo's words and I quote "Unless the government of Nigeria takes urgent steps to arrest the menace of youth unemployment and poverty, it is a certainty that Nigeria will see a revolution soon.

Waking up to the newspaper headline of "6 PhD holders, 704 Masters Degree holders apply for DRIVER'S job in Dangote Group"..... I was left with a big hanging question mark: "Where have things gone wrong?"

·         Should we re-evaluate the idea of "Education for All"?

·         Maybe it is time to change the Education paradigm according to Sir K. Robinson.

·         Does the conventional education really lift from poverty? Or collect the little you could have used to better your life and be happy, and leaves you praying to get on someone's payroll for your daily meal?

One of the reasons the world has left us behind is because we celebrate certificates whilst they celebrate discoveries.

Where is the place for vocational training for students who are out of secondary school and waiting to gain admission? Some of them spend a year or more waiting to pass UME and post UME that is even for those who have passed their SSCE exams.

I bet that if vocational education was made available for young school leavers to ensure they are enhanced with at least a skill, they will be able to use that in supporting/sustaining themselves whenever they gain admission and will definitely have something to fall back on when they graduate and are yet to get a job. You will be surprised that a whole lot will not even look for jobs but will rather establish themselves in the entrepreneurial world and the small/medium scale industries will begin to thrive. That way, more jobs will be provided and they will also take in more hands to be trained in that line of business.

With adequate support from the government, the small and medium scale industries will start expanding and in no time, we can start exporting our goods and services to other countries. This on its own will drive our economy positively, improve our foreign earnings, further stabilize our industries and strengthen our badly battered currency.

I sincerely hope someone is watching, someone is listening and most importantly, someone borrows these pieces of advice. That way, we can start expecting to see a drastic and positive turn of events in the course of time.