Anyone in our country who has needed to build any structure or repair items requiring professional or artisan expertise will agree that there is an urgent need for our government to pay special attention to training the skilled workforce essential for building this nation into a true giant.
Currently, our focus seems centred on recruiting politicians who often end up poorly administering our affairs. Enormous sums are allocated for conducting elections, with no expense spared to achieve this goal. Meanwhile, little attention is paid to training the people we desperately need to design, build, and maintain standard houses, roads, and infrastructure; to care for the sick; and to repair our electronics, vehicles, and modern technologies.
Those who say Nigeria is struggling and urgently needs serious effort and determination to revive and restore her to glory are correct. This is not the country we inherited from Britain in 1960. While it may not sound patriotic to acknowledge this, sixty-four years after independence, this nation is barely being built. Each day, we seem to drift further from our potential.
We once had well-trained masons who would refuse instructions from clients wanting substandard work to cut costs. Buildings weren’t collapsing and killing people as they do today. Hospitals had doctors genuinely concerned about their patients’ health and well-being. Many patients recovered simply from encountering the compassionate care of medical professionals. Today, some healthcare workers worsen patients’ conditions through their indifference or hostility.
Have you recently engaged builders, tilers, carpenters, block moulders, painters, mechanics, or electricians? Was your experience with most of them pleasant and satisfactory? Unfortunately, the answer is typically no. Many lack proper training, and those who are skilled often prove dishonest and unreliable. It seems our artisans are trained more in opportunism than craftsmanship. When your car needs parts, both the mechanic and apprentices mysteriously have exactly what you need—despite not being parts dealers. When electricians provide estimates, they conveniently stock all the wires, bulbs, and fixtures required. How do they acquire these items, and why aren’t they ashamed to advertise goods they’ve likely obtained dishonestly? Where is the ethical training that should be part of professional development?
Why has our system deteriorated so dramatically, and why does no one seem interested in stopping this decline?
More importantly, we have a country to build where all citizens can live prosperously. We cannot build a great Nigeria with mediocre professionals and artisans. Nations are built by people of character and competence.
While our politicians appear to lack training in public service, we cannot afford to have those who build and repair our infrastructure equally unprepared. Smaller West African countries like Togo, Ghana, and Benin Republic take pride in the skilled artisans they export to Nigeria, yet we cannot say the same about our own workers, who often seem more focused on exploitation than service. Personal advancement at the nation’s expense appears to be their primary motivation.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu faces this major challenge as he approaches his second year in office. His administration’s plans for education and skills development will be crucial for Nigeria’s future. If his government can accomplish one transformative goal, it should be paying special attention to training the professionals and artisans who form the backbone of modern nations. With a skilled, ethical workforce, Nigeria could function smoothly regardless of political shortcomings.
The time for action is now. Nigeria’s future depends not just on who leads us politically, but on who builds, repairs, and maintains the infrastructure of our daily lives.
