Skill acquisition is one of the important pillars that help many in actualizing their dreams and aid those that are not privileged to work with public or private organizations with academic certificates, and to have source of livelihood. The essential of skill acquisition is as the relevancy of water to human body. Lack of other sources of income is a major cause of bribery and corruptions especially when salaries are not paid; workers do anything to cater for their families. There are graduates that could not endure carrying their credentials to different agencies or ministries seeking jobs; they prefer to learn skills and become their own bosses. Skills increase employment opportunities, effective works and crime reduction in societies. A self employed person has every right to stay at home and relax as he or she wishes without being questioned by any higher authority.

Year-in-year-out, thousands of students graduate from secondary schools and higher institutions of learning; more than 60% of them search for a greener pastures through working in air-conditioned offices, earning huge amounts on monthly basis and enjoying whatever the dream of; these fantasies are no more as getting a governments’ works has turned to looking for water in deserts under scorching sun. There are people that have all it takes to occupy positions and contribute to advancement of societies but the venom of ‘who you know, who knows you’ has exacerbate situations rather than ameliorating it. Skills help people have better resources and financial management, improved strategic planning and crises management in organization due to experiences garnered.

In order to reduce the rate of unemployment and total reliance on government works, in 1987 National Directorate of Employment (NDE) was established; the directorate was mandated to deal with rising trend of unemployment through training people in various skills. An idle graduate tends to stimulates nothing but negative thoughts and ways to be rich in shortest time, those thoughts are stimulants to evil works. In the same vein, many successful businessmen and women whose names are heard globally are self-employed, this is in line with one proverb which says ‘one at hand is better than two in the bush’ meaning that skill that generates money for you daily need is better than certificate you are going here and there with seeking for lucrative jobs.

Student that was trained in one or more skills is hard to have total reliance for money from parents before doing assignments, and it helps him or her acquire gadgets like phones, laptops, etc that makes learning easy. Most victims of criminal activities engage in them because they are idle, skills could make youths responsible and view crimes as undignified acts no matter how much they could gain. Students’ enrollment in skills while studying reduces the burdens which parents bear if they are doing nothing, because skilled students would be independents and pay by themselves without parents’ interventions. Whatever students wish to wear, eat or acquire could be possible if they are self-employed, everyone needs skills in order to minimize frequent request from parents.

Now adays if you want to succeed find alternatives for income no matter how little you might be getting, labour markets are congested with many applications and vacancies there are not up to one third of the huge job seekers. It’s better to get your hands dirty and make your pocket heavy than wearing clean attires and begging little amount from same hawkers you laughed at. On campuses, there are many students with raw talents on how to get things done perfectly or repair devices not because they undergo trainings, authorities concerned need to put them on track and harness such talents. In our localities alone, one could not count people with Diplomas, Degrees or Masters that do not have job; therefore one do not need to be advised about acquiring some skills as vivid examples are everywhere.

Skills acquisition should be made compulsory subject to senior secondary schools students and at different tertiary institutions and items needed for the trainings should be provided by government. Technical and vocational devices, machines and tools necessary for the work after one finishes the training should be supplied free of charge, it would inspire others to enroll and become beneficiaries too. Regular supervision to trained persons is paramount which is to make sure they are judiciously using them and anyone found guilty of selling them should be dealt with decisively. Governments are still finding it hard to employ everyone but training 7 out of 10 unemployed youths could drastically reduce crimes as those trained would at the end influence the remaining 3 to be productive like them.
Kobi can be reached on 08100358411.