Fides Et Ratio Academy has proposed a shift in Nigeria’s education system towards prioritising skills development over mere certificates.
Chief Executive Officer of the Academy, (CEO), Paul Chukwuma emphasised the need for a change, stating, “The educational system we were introduced to is deficient in the key essential elements that every human being should think about, and that is skills.”
Chukwuma highlighted the prevalent focus on paper qualifications, stating, “Everybody wants to be a PhD holder; everybody wants to be a professor, even when you cannot defend that title.”
He also emphasised the importance of skills over degrees, citing examples from Europe where technical departments are led by individuals without degrees but with skills.
Established in 2006, Fides Et Ratio Academy aims to fulfil this mandate and has recently launched a private university to further its mission.
Chukwuma linked the issue of unemployment to the production of graduates without essential skills and called for greater collaboration between educational institutions and industry.
He stressed the need for a connection between institutions and companies, stating, “The problems companies encounter are supposed to be solved by the research going on at the various institutions, but that is not happening here.”
