A former Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos, Ladi Lawanson, says the country has yet to tap into the full potential of vocational and technical education.

Mr Lawanson, also the committee chairman of the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) of the Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Lagos, disclosed on Saturday in Lagos at the 2022 valedictory service of the college.

“I have long held the view that Nigeria has not exploited enough vocational training in terms of exposing the citizens,” Mr Lawanson said.

He noted that the non-exploitation was impacting negativity on its quest for technological advancement.

“I think we have this unidirectional mindset that everybody must be a white-collared job professional, which is not true. It is not realistic to our national objective,” he noted.

The former commissioner maintained that utilising vocational education will contribute to the development of the economy.

Mr Lawanson noted that the SBMC was in partnership with the federal government to ensure the full realisation of the mandates of its unity colleges.

According to him, one of the key reasons the federal government should set up such a committee is to attract partners, funds, ideas and knowledge to support the schools.

The committee chair said often, students were sent to school without thinking about how best to get them engaged after that, noting that this had led to the high rate of unemployment among the youth in the country.

He stated that the committee was thinking well ahead of such development by finding the connectivity in addition to imparting knowledge to the students of the college.

He expressed optimism that the 800 graduating students would add value and affect their environment positively with the knowledge and skills acquired as they go into the larger space.

(NAN)