House Urges NERDC to Make Skills Acquisition a Compulsory Subject

Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The House of Representatives has urged the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to review the Basic Education Curriculum and make skills acquisition a compulsory subject.

It also mandated its Committees on Basic Education and Services and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure compliance and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion on the need to “Make Skills Acquisition a Compulsory Subject in the Basic Education Curriculum,” which was moved by Hon. Ganiyu Abiodun Johnson, at plenary yesterday.

Presenting the motion, Johnson noted that over the last two decades, innovation and creativity have become critical skills for achieving self-employment and national economic development.

He explained that skills acquisition and creativity are only being taught in secondary schools and tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

“According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the total number of people classified as unemployed increased from 17.6 million to 20.9 million between 2017 and 2018 and keeps increasing due to the increase in Nigeria’s population,” he said.

According to him, “skills acquisition, which may take the form of innovation and creativity, has become critical for achieving success in any given economy, however, the current curriculum centered on academic qualifications and government jobs alone are not enough for a sustainable economy.”

He further stated that in Nigeria, there is a low level of practical adaptation of knowledge acquired; hence, there is a need to restructure the basic education curriculum by awakening the consciousness of the relevant government agencies.

“The NERDC is responsible for curriculum development of basic education in Nigeria, encouragement, promotion, and coordination of educational research programs carried out in Nigeria, identification of educational problems in Nigeria which research is needed and the establishment of the order of priorities among others as being enshrined in the Nigerian constitution,” he stated.