Integrating Technical and Vocational Education in Youth Empowerment Programmes: An approach to nation building and job creation in Nigeria.

Abstract

Youth empowerment in many nations is geared towards equipping youths with skills for self-employment and nation building. The rate of unemployment and underemployment among Nigerian youths and graduates is on the rising, crime and poverty rate has equally increased. The federal government of Nigeria, International organizations and Non-governmental organizations has introduced some youth empowerment programmes to curtail the problem of unemployment in Nigeria. Despite the efforts of the government and other bodies to help in curbing this situation, it all seems that the expected results of these programmes are not seen. This is as a result of the syllabus of some of the programmes for the reason that they do not appropriately integrated Vocational and Technical Education in its programme content. Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) leads to applied and practical skills acquisition. Integrating VTE in youth empowerment programmes will greatly equip the beneficiaries of the programme with practical skills for self-reliance and this will in turn reduce underemployment and unemployment to the barest minimum and increases the economical growth of the nation.