That was the jubilation today that President Tinubu assented to the bill upgrading Kaduna Polytechnic to a federal university. That will make federal universities in Kaduna State about four. Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech) in Lagos is also expected to become a university not long from now.
There are complaints that Nigeria need more technical skills, but we are converting the technical institutes into universities. It is understandable that average polytechnics in Nigeria are in a terrible state and lack what it takes to perform their mandate. We should be discussing how to return them to their glorious days.
More amazing was the fact that some of the skills preachers had a chance to head polytechnics but could not transform their ideas into making the polytechnics the skill hub they had preached.
But rather than reforming the current state of our polytechnics and empowering them to deliver the required practical skills they think we need in Nigeria, they are being converted in their current state to join the long list of underfunded Nigerian public universities with semi-functional laboratories and workshops.
Universities and polytechnics are expected to serve complementary purposes within our tertiary education system.
Universities emphasise theoretical foundations, conceptual understanding, research and the advancement of knowledge. Polytechnics place greater emphasis on applied knowledge, practical competencies, technological skills and the ability to translate ideas into working solutions.
Who will fill that gap that the polytechnics are created to fill? Who will provide the complementary role when all the polytechnics become universities?
So, what education system do we really want?
A country does not become technologically advanced simply by adding more universities and converting all the polytechnics and colleges to universities. It becomes technologically advanced when its people possess the knowledge, skills and institutional support required to turn ideas into products, services and solutions.
©Amoka
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