TECHNICAL SKILLS ACQUISITION, JOB CREATION STRATEGIES AND EMPLOYABILITY OF TECHNICAL COLLEGE GRADUATES IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The inability of youths to secure employment opportunities appears to have become a national challenge. The increasing rate of unemployment could increase the risk of social and economic vices such as poverty, prostitution, armed robbery, kidnapping and insurgence. Continuous increase in youth unemployment raises the question of effectiveness in the technical skills and job creation strategies acquired by youths who enrol in NDE technical training centres and Government Technical Colleges. Previous studies on technical skills acquisition considered the quality of instructors, adequacy of funding, job avenues and government policy factors with little emphasis on employability of the youths after training. Hence, this study assessed the technical skills acquisition, job creation strategies and employability of technical college graduates in Oyo State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Population of the study consisted of the 3,525 youths enrolled for technical training between 2009 and 2013 in the five Government Technical Colleges and 225 non-formal Vocational Training Centres affiliated to the National Directorate of Employment in Oyo State. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were content analysed. Youths trained from technical skills acquisition centres appear more competent and reliable on employment than youths trained in government technical colleges. Graduates of NDE technical training centres have better customer retention skills than graduates of government technical colleges. Less emphasis should be placed on production of graduates who have paper qualifications without technical skills for employment or job creation.