A Professor of Industrial and Technology Education at the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Emmanuel Raymond, has warned that Nigeria’s obsession with paper certificates over practical skills is fueling the nation`s unemployment crisis and worsening insecurity.

Delivering the university’s 131st Inaugural Lecture, titled “The Marriage Between TVET and Job Creation: Let No One Put Asunder,” at the Gidan-Kwano campus, Professor Raymond declared Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as the country`s most potent weapon against poverty.

He lamented that the current educational system has become overly theoretical, pumping out millions of graduates who possess high academic qualifications but lack the technical competencies required by modern industries.

According to the university don, the national fixation on white-collar jobs has led to a dangerous neglect of blue-collar, wealth-creating vocational careers.

"Today, Nigeria has over 10 million unemployed youths, while more than 700,000 university graduates remain jobless," Raymond revealed. "At the same time, about 80 per cent of the nation’s workforce operates in the informal sector without formal certification."

He argued that theory alone cannot feed citizens or grow an economy, stressing that meaningful youth engagement through skills acquisition will naturally cause insecurity to decline.

The professor criticized the current trend where higher institution graduates rely heavily on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme to learn basic vocational skills. He argued that universities and polytechnics should have fully equipped students with employable skills long before graduation.

To fix the structural decay, the academic called on all tiers of government to establish a National Skills Development Fund, upgrade training facilities, implement curriculum reforms, and make vocational education compulsory in secondary schools. He also urged the private sector to expand apprenticeship slots and collaborate on curriculum design to match emerging technologies.

Endorsing the presentation, the Vice-Chancellor of FUT Minna, Professor Faruk Adamu Kuta, described the lecture as a timely intervention for one of Nigeria`s most pressing socio-economic challenges.

Professor Kuta reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to driving entrepreneurship, adding that the university will continue fostering academic frameworks that transform graduates into employers of labour rather than job seekers.