RELEVANT SKILLS ACQUISITION: IMPORTANCE TO AN UNDERGRADUATE

Introduction:

As water is very essential to human life; so is a skill needed in the life of every serious-minded human being. Skills can do a lot of great work in the life of every living soul. It is common knowledge that about 80% of graduates in most Nigerian universities find it hard to get employment every year. This is largely due to the curricula of the universities and other tertiary schools with an emphasis on training for white-collar jobs.

Nigeria has an estimated population of 170 million people. This population is endowed with abundant human and natural resources and a favourable geographical location in the world map. The current global financial crisis has impacted negatively on the macro and micro levels of the Nigerian economy. In the present, this situation has posed serious challenges and threats to the government and a great number of citizens.

Nigeria like other developing countries is faced with a number of problems ranging from youth and graduate unemployment, high level of poverty, insurgency, conflict and diseases, insincerity, over dependency on foreign-made goods, low economic growth and development, lack of capacity and required skills to move the economy forward and urbanization. Unemployment has become a major problem bedevilling the lives of youths and graduates causing frustration, depression, dejection and dependency on family members and friends. The high level of unemployment among this population in Nigeria has contributed to the high rate of insecurity, violence in elections and poverty.

Skill acquisition may be viewed as the process of making superlative output a general characteristic of one’s behaviour in a given field. It involves a gradual change from less effective behaviour to an extremely proficient one. A skilled worker is one who is adept in the trade or a person who has attained excellence in a particular trade or undertaking. Skill acquisition, therefore, involves painstaking effort, discipline, practice and drill as well as reviews. A skill can be defined as the ability to do something well, usually gained through training or experience. Skill acquisition, on the other hand, involves the development of a new skill, practice or a way of doing things, usually gained through training or experience.

Skill Acquisition is the science that underpins movement learning and execution and is more commonly termed motor learning and control.
There are basically three stages of skill acquisition; the cognitive stage, associative stage, and the autonomous stage. The first stage is when you are still battling with the skill, the second is when you are practising the skill, and the third is when you are already an expert of the skill.

Skill Acquisition is of two types; vocational and non-vocational skills.

• Vocational skills require knowledge and intelligence
• Non-vocational skills do not necessarily require knowledge and intelligence.

The importance of skills acquisition in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. And for Nigeria to be economically self-reliant, we must necessarily diversify our economy and as well encourage the youth to embrace self-employment through skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, self-reliance and financial empowerment. Skill is very important in the life of every citizen. The reason why many technicians earn more than some university graduates is that the technicians acquired more skills than the theories the graduates were fed with when they were in universities. It can take you to places you do not expect you will ever find yourself.

The reason why many technicians earn more than some university graduates is that the technicians acquired more skills than the theories the graduates were fed with when they were in universities.

Today, there are many unemployed graduates in the world. One of the problems of the education system of Africa is that it does not give much room to skills development . There are so many benefits gotten from skill acquisition, such as:

• Self-employment.
• Diverse job opportunities.
• Employment generation.
• Effective function
• Enhancement of activities
• Crime reduction.
• Wealth creation.

Some of the skills needed for these benefits listed above are; adaptive thinking, communication skills, collaboration skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, personal management, inquiry skills, technology skills, creativity and innovation, soft skills, empathy and perspective.