Imo Assembly passes Oguta lawmaker’s Bill on mandatory inclusion of skill acquisition in school curricular

By CHINYERE Nnaemeka

The Imo State House of Assembly has passed the Bill seeking for skill acquisition and craftsmanship as a mandatory course in all primary, and secondary schools, and for the Establishment of the centers in tertiary institutions.

The Bill which is sponsored by the Oguta lawmaker, Engr. Gilbert Chiedozie Nwosu, was passed on Thursday after it went through the Committee of the Whole House and was finally okayed by the members.

The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chike Olemgbe, further directed the Clerk of the House to send it to Governor Hope Uzodimma for his assent.

It would be recalled that the Bill which is captioned, “A Bill for a Law to provide for Skill Acquisition and Craftsmanship as a mandatory course in all primary and secondary schools, and for the Establishment of Skill Acquisition and Craftsmanship Centre in Tertiary Institutions in Imo State and for other related matters”, passed through second reading on Tuesday, January 31, 2024 and was committed to the House Committee on Education.

Addressing the correspondents of the House, the lawmaker who expressed joy that the Bill has been passed, noted that the passage of the bill will reduce the young people’s over dependency on white collar jobs.

“The reason why there is high rate of unemployment in the nation is because everyone is waiting for the government to provide job for them when we all know that it cannot be possible as government alone cannot provide adequate job for it’s citizens.”

He continued that due to lack of skill some of our youths are now engaging in all sort of criminalities, as it is said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.

Nwosu averred, “The bill when assented to by the governor, will not only solve the challenge of unemployment but will also reduce the rate of importation of certain things into the country and when this is achieved you will see our economy blossoming. Nigeria today is virtually importing everything including toothpicks, and handkerchiefs, so if we encourage our young ones and youths in school to go into this, you will see that some of these things will be produced here in Nigeria and well too which will go along way in taking care of our economic crisis.

“This is why dollar is rising everyday as their is high demand on it due to people that want to import.

“I believe in catching them young for China is producing for the entire world today because they started early to encourage their people to go into acquiring some skills at an early stage.

“By creating skill up centers in the higher institutions, students after graduation will learn to create job for themselves, and even be employers of labour, ‘Nwosu stated.’

He expressed confidence in Governor Hope Uzodimma, saying that he knows he will not hesitate to sign the bill into law as he, the governor is also ‘working hard through the Skill Up Imo Programme to see that he creates adequate job for Imo citizens’.