In his first address to Adamawa people, Governor Alhaji Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, promised to revive the youth skills acquisition centres. This is a very good step. Adamawa State needs a paradigm shift and new thinking in its human capital development programmes.
The technical and skills acquisition centers across the state should be resuscitated, redesigned and retooled to serve as a vehicle for jobs and wealth creation, including, as training places for agricultural entrepreneurship. This will go a long way in increasing human capital output that will speed up and sustain economic growth. A well-funded, adequately tooled and efficiently manned skills acquisition centre will nurture the youths, encourage private sector and help the rural poor to be strong participants in the economic development of Adamawa State. In fact, it will free Adamawa State from the prison of always waiting for hand-out from the federal government.
The government should go into partnership with the private sector to establish poultry, fisheries, plantations etc in various locations in the state.
Furthermore, the centers should be well funded to serve as ‘ideas development hubs’- because ideas development is also an excellent way to create employment for bright youths i.e. the well-known concept of: Innovate, create, invent and invest. Adamawa State churns out thousands of graduates- engineers, computers programmers, architects, operations researchers, chemists, surveyors, agric-economists, designers etc yearly.
The Fintiri government should see the skills acquisition centers as goldmines as well as a socio-political weapon. The centers should be re-energized to work in such a way that it can assist graduates with technical skills and entrepreneurship passion to have access to facilities and environment that support thinking for invention and innovation.
With this kind of scheme, it is possible to see new industries surface.
Zayyad I. Muhammad wrote from Jimeta, Adamawa State and can be reached at: [email protected]
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