Page 1 of 11

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at

http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 03 Issue 12

November 2017

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 111

Vocational and Technical Education: A Way Out of

Economic Recession in Nigeria

Talabi Amos Olatunbosun

Department of Accountancy,

The Federal Polytechnic,

Ile Oluji Ondo State,

Adekanmbi John Ayodele

Department of Business Education,

College of Education, Ikere- Ekiti

Omula Godwin Omula

Department of Accountancy,

The Federal Polytechnic,

Ile Oluji Ondo State,

ABSTRACT

The term economic recession is no longer a new phenomenon in the global world; it is a general

slowdown in economic activities for two consecutive quarters. The focus of this paper is to

illustrate how vocational and technical education serves as a way out the present economic

recession in Nigeria. The paper reviews the concept of Vocational and Technical Education

(VTE) and also emphasis were made on the understanding of economic recession. It identified

both internal and external causes of recession in Nigeria. The paper articulated the vocational

and technical education as panacea for the economic recession with emphases on how massive

investment in VTE would bring out Nigeria from recession. Recommendations were made among

which; Government officials, stakeholders and implementers of the present administration’s N- POWER program to be transparent and also to sustain and re-open subsidy reinvestment and

empowerment program with all degree of sincerity and free of corruption. These components

will help tackle the significant problem of unemployment by training the youth in vocational

skills thereby equipping them with the tools for obtaining gainful employment which in turns

reduce the negative effect of recession in Nigeria.

Keywords: Economic Recession, Employment, Economic growth, Vocational and Technical

Education.

INTRODUCTION

Presently, the economic situations of this

country is bad and even the so-called white

collar jobs, could no longer sustain the

citizens, as an average Nigerian now lives

below the average standard of living.

Observations has showed that the petty

traders and other craftsman are living

economically average lives while civil

servants are like paupers living even below

Page 2 of 11

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at

http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 03 Issue 12

November 2017

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 112

poverty level because, the salary is so

meager compare to the prevailing prices of

materials and there are no saleable skills to

earn them extra money. In fact, the

macroeconomic is in complete disarray. The

poverty level in the country has worsened

considerably as more and more are falling in

to the poverty trap daily. The Federal

Government and the state governments are

now borrowing to meet their financial

obligations. Technically, our country is now

almost insolvent. Even the central Bank of

Nigeria (CBN) is reluctant in lending to the

Federal Government more money.

Consequently, companies have to reduce

production capacity, buy less local inputs,

sack more workers, pay less or no tax and

finally close down; which are symptoms of

economic recession.

For any nation to be economically vibrant

according to Adesina (2003) each person

that is a constituent of that nation must be

fully equipped with skills, knowledge and

attitude that would help him function and

contribute positively to the economic

growth. Vocation and Technical Education

therefore, plays a vital role in equipping the

recipient with the ability to become

economically efficient

However, recognizing education as a major

indicator of development hence, should

Countries or Regions (states) to invest more

in education to promote economic growth?

Policy makers often assert that if their states

spend more on educating its population,

income will grow sufficiently to more than

recover the investment (Oladipo 2015).

There is ample anecdotal and correlation

evidence suggesting that education and

economic growth are related, but the

evidence point in a variety of directions. For

instance, if one favour the education- innovation link, then one might compare

Europe and the United States (US) in recent

years, when Europe has grown slowly. Sapir

(2010) and Camdessus (2011) argued that

the slower growth may have been caused by

the European Union’s relatively meager

investment of 1.1 percent of its gross

domestic product (GDP) in higher

education, compared to 3 percent in the

United States. One might also look at studies

such as Scherer and Huc as cited in

Fafowora (2017) Who; using data on 221

enterprises from 1998 to 2013, show that

enterprises whose executives have a high

level of technical education spend more on

research and development that lead to

innovations.

Concepts of Vocation and Technical

Education

According to UNESCO (1986), Vocation

and Technical Education (VTE) was defined

Page 3 of 11

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at

http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 03 Issue 12

November 2017

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 113

as a comprehensive term that encompasses

those facts of the educational process

involving, in addition to general education,

the study of technologies, related science

(technical) and the acquisition of technical

skills, attitude, understanding and

knowledge associated with occupations. In

the same vein, Omakhanlen (2009)

explained vocational as any form of

education whose primary purpose is to

prepare individuals in employment for

recognized occupation. He emphasized that

vocational education provides the skills,

knowledge and attitude necessary for

employment in specific occupation.

Vocational education is geared towards

meeting not only the needs of the

individuals of the industry, but the needs of

the entire nation. No wonder the National

Policy on Education (2004) defines

Technical education as the aspect of

education which leads to the acquisition of

practical and applied skills as well as a basic

scientific knowledge. The terms Technical

Education, Vocational Education and

Technology Education as observed by

Oranu (1998) and Ajisafe (2008) mean one

and the same thing. Oranu justified this

assertion by appropriating the definitions

given to Technical Education in the National

Policy on Education as well as that of the

National Board for Technical Education

(NBTE 1988).

From the above definitions, we therefore,

assert that Vocational and Technical

Education is an aspect of education which

gives individuals the required knowledge,

skills, understanding and attitude to function

effectively and efficiently in managing their

personal businesses and economic system,

which in turn contributing immensely to the

economic growth.

Understanding Economic Recession

CBN (2012) observe that recession is a

business cycle contraction and it refers to a

general slowdown in economic activities for

two consecutive quarters. During recession,

there is usually a decline in certain

macroeconomic indicators such as GDP,

Employment, Investment spending,

Capacity Utilization, Household Income,

Business Income and Inflation, with the

attendant increase in the rate of

unemployment. Technically, when an

economy recorded two consecutive quarters

of negative growth in real GDP, it can be

said to be in recession. GDP is the market

value of all legitimately recognized final

goods and services produced in the country

in a given period of time, usually one year.