Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna is the executive vice chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). In this exclusive interview with Nkechi Isaac, during the sixth graduation ceremony of 300 vocational skills trainees of a non-governmental organisation, the Mother and Child Care Enhancement Foundation (McCEF), registered by the first lady of Nasarawa State, Salamatu Umaru Tanko Al-Makura in Lafia, he stresses that skilled manpower forms the base of industrial production of any nation.
What does today’s event signify in the efforts of your organisation to make technology a household interest in Nigeria?
The significance of today’s event where those that were given skill training were trained as craftsmen and women in various professions is for them to be self-employed and be employers of labour also. It is relevant and very important to the mandate and activities of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).
Once they put what they have learnt into practice it will guarantee not only employment but availability of some products at home. There is no nation that has completely discouraged crafts and production from households to shops. These little technologies and personal efforts are actually the inputs to industries, those that learn knitting for example, their products can serve as a feeder to some textile industries. They can do some fine designs with their which a large manufacturing concern will probably have no time for. In fact, identifying with this programme is allowing NASENI to collaborate with others to make greater impact on the grassroots and doing that is part of the mandate.
You talked about memorandum of understanding between NASENI and Nasarawa, which areas can the agency forge partnership with the state?
There has been a memorandum of understanding between Nasarawa State and NASENI since 2011, that was even before my employment, it was signed during the tenure of my predecessor.
This MoU is to guarantee youth empowerment, teaching them handcrafts and some skills including plumbing, carpentry, wood work in collaboration with relevant technology skill acquisition centres. This collaboration is to ensure that their craftsmen and technicians doing some household work and products in shops and in the markets meet their immediate need and that of their immediate communities which will lead to small scale, micro and medium scale enterprises. It’s an on-going collaboration and is promising to enhance skill acquisition in the state.
It is through the collaboration that some hospitals in Nasarawa like Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital has a portion of its ward that is supplied with power from our solar system products in Karshi. So, what we do, we don’t just come and install the solar for them but we use their indigenes to teach them how to do the installation themselves and be responsible not only for its maintenance but for further installations elsewhere. That is what the collaboration is emphasizing. Even the relevant technology their resource persons that are teaching them various trades in various professions are receiving training in NASENI system in the form of training the trainers.
How can other states take advantage of this kind of opportunity to boost grassroots skill capacity development?
I think there are other states that have approached NASENI. Of recent there was Kebbi State, and then Jigawa, Gombe, Bauchi states and the implementation of these MoUs are at various stages. Some already have their staff and unemployed youths in the system and our centres across the country in Enugu and Awka are training unemployed youths in various states, even in Kano, these collaborations exist and there are various levels and different achievements in this aspect.
NASENI has discovered and trained many Nigerians that have worked out tools and machineries and we don’t seem to hear about them. Is there no follow up on their activities?
Those that have received this skilled training are at various stages of their success but what we have discovered recently is that we have to incorporate entrepreneurship skills. The fact that somebody knows the technical work of how to do job well does not mean that he has the skill to successfully run the business. So, now we are incorporating entrepreneurship training for those we have already trained and they’re operating by themselves.
Though some of them have abandoned the trade they have learned to pursue greener pastures but those that are still in the profession need certain enhancements like additional capital and they need entrepreneurial education to be able to grow beyond their current level.
It has been proven that experts from other countries like Togo and China are the ones doing certain jobs in Nigeria because of lack of skilled manpower, how can the Federal Government address this on a larger scale?
On a larger scale or recommendation is that we should recognise the crucial role of craft schools and technical schools that are no longer flourishing and have even been phased out in some states. No nation has ever done that because they are compulsory components. They are the foundation for industrial production.
You need craftsmen who are trained either through skill acquisition or craft school or technical school, they are the foundation. These people are immediately followed by technicians and technologists that are trained in monotechnics and polytechnics. They are very crucial and shouldn’t be phased out. They are also followed by engineers that go to the universities but at the peak of the ladder are those that receive advanced degrees. As I illustrated, the craftsmen know what to do, the technologists and technicians know how to do, they supervise the craftsmen. The engineers know why you have to do it. They are there to provide the design of what is to be done.
And there are those that are referred to as game-changers, these are those with the advanced degrees, they do the research and think. They live in virtual world which means that their thinking may not even be for today but for the future. So, what they think about is designed by the engineers to see if it will be a reality. These are the crucial components of industrial development and no nation has ever phased out any of them-“the four members of the pyramid”
These members of the pyramid were abound in Nigeria at a time and helped other countries to develop their own technology. Is there any missing link that needs to be bridged so that these four can work together in Nigeria the way they do in other countries?
That is the importance of activities such as today, which is the training and graduation of craftsmen and women because it is part of the missing link. I also explained that the technicians, the best tillers, masons, brick layers and other artisans, plumbers are coming from neighbouring countries because we lack them; we’re no longer training and certifying them. That is a very serious missing link, so activities such as training professionals in different trades including tailoring and garment making, no profession is useless, all are needed. So, there is no deliberate effort to mass produce this category of workers in Nigeria. In fact, there are even advocacy to even phase out the polytechnic education in some places. Once we have any policy that discourages that you can be sure that we’ll have shortage of manpower to man industries.