The Oyo State Board for Technical and Vocational Education (BOTAVED) has advised youths and graduates across the country to embrace vocational and technical education without wasting more time.
The board noted that this is necessary to reduce the poverty and unemployment rate in the country.
Executive Secretary of the board, Mrs. Cynthia Esan-Williams, made these disclosures while speaking during the graduation ceremony of a Technical college in Ibadan on Thursday.
Esan-Williams who was represented by Mr. Adepoju Adewale noted that the board has registered many technical and vocational centres to reduce the rate of poverty in the country.
She said, “Technical and vocational training can reduce poverty and unemployment in the country. It is in recognition of this that the state government certified and approved some technical and vocational training schools.
“We did this to reduce poverty and unemployment in the state. We did this so as to engage youths to be self-employed. To alleviate poverty in Oyo state.
The Rector, Dr. Olufunmi Adegbile while speaking with journalists lamented that most graduates are not employable because they lack vocational and technical skills apart from the certificates they acquired.
She, however, said the institution was established to produce graduates with requisite skills in the labour market and produce people who will be self-reliant.
“Over the years, our young ones, graduates, they finish from universities, polytechnics and they are unemployable. So this academy was established out of the passion to contribute to society, to reduce the rate of unemployment in the country.
“We are having 87 graduating students today in different departments. As we turn out a new set of graduates today, we believe that we are sending out great ambassadors who will go out and make a difference in the hospitality sector and contribute to the realising of our own dream of positively impacting our society and economy”.
The Head of Clinical Psychology Unit and Psychotherapy Centre, Department of Psychology, Lagos State University (LASU), Professor Onaolapo Taiwo in his lecture noted that there is no age limitation to the acquisition of skills.
He said “Acquire skills. It can be done at any age even when you are 80. Skills can be acquired when you are 20, 30 or even when you are 80.
“As psychologists, we believe that each human being has the ability to acquire one form of skill or the other”.
