The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has said the huge emphasis being placed on paper qualifications by employers of labours as opposed to hands-on skills is not in the best interest of the country.
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He said this on Thursday in Abuja at the National Skills Summit.
The event was organised by the Industrial Training Fund with the theme, ‘Skills for employability and job creation.’
The minister, who was represented by his Special Adviser, Mr Adewale Adenaike, said many Nigerians still believed that hands-on skills were a preserve of the poor and the disadvantaged in society.
He said, “This is the only country in the world where all we are after is paper qualifications.
“We need a reorientation, paper qualifications is good but it’s not what we need now. We need hands on skills.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, said a larger percentage of the country’s workforce was not engaged because of absence of requisite skills.
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