By
Sonni Anyang
Of course, having multiple skills never kills. Nobody says it does.
But as usual, Nigerians are well on the way to misleading themselves with this increasingly trending idea that the route to economic success lies in lawyers’ becoming farmers and doctors taking up hairdressing on the side.
It doesn’t.
The second skill narrative goes against the trajectory of modern socioeconomic development; totally against it. Why we are always trying to reinvent the wheel in Nigeria beats me. Yes, as Nigerians we are different but not always positively so. Other countries run efficient public utilities; we insist on one household, one electric power generator and one borehole. But has that model taken us to the promised land or made ours the land with the highest concentration of poor people in the world? The evidence speaks for itself.
The second/ third skill mantra is myopic in the extreme. First, it sees economic progress strictly as an individual enterprise.
Sure, a media professional acquires a skill as a saxophonist and another skill as a poultry farmer and makes more money for himself as an individual. But wouldn’t he have done more for society if he had devoted more time to the media business and developed a CNN rival that could have employed hindreds, if not thousands? Development over the ages has been driven by specialisation and division of labour. Anthropological/ historical evidence shows conclusively that humankind progressed by individuals who were initially jacks of all trades becoming specialists – from everyone doing everything for themselves to some becoming farmers, others craftsmen, builders, soldiers, the ruled and the rulers, etc. In the sphere of production, the breakdown of the production process into smaller, sub processes (division of labour) sped up production and increased output a thousand fold. And the agglomeration of these processes under the factory system gave rise to modern socioeconomic development and all the great things that came in its wake. In short, it delivered civilization, as we know it. So what will be our fate if we turn our backs on this trajectory?
It is worth observing here that the second skill mantra creates and reinforces anti development and antisocial tendencies by prioritizing individual economic success over group and societal progress. The resulting mindset partially explains why one man can corner resources meant for all without a thought to the consequences for the wider society. It explains why treasury looters are not embarrassed but instead get hailed as success stories and promoted into positions of ever higher responsibility.
A second skill may be good for individuals but our country will make faster progress and compete more successfully in the world when people of working age become more competent in their specialized skills and are organized in large ( note not small individual units) enterprises that can deliver goods and services on a mass scale.
We buck the trajectory of human history at our own peril.
Our undisguised failure in the area of public utilities which others take for granted proves the point.
Not just Emeka Opara’s opinion. The narrative that our youths should acquire second, even third, skills after graduating from school in different subject areas, has morphed into official policy. It is a negative trend and bad policy that has not been sufficiently thought through ( sadly, development policy in Nigeria has ceased to be driven by thinking for some time now, anyway).
We spend millions to train a biologist or an economist and then tell her/him to go learn makeup! What a waste! How can we deploy resources that way and expect progress?
We must distinguish between on the job training/ orientation, vocational education and the multiple skills mantra.
On the job training is de rigueur when fresh school leaves are entering employment or even old workers taking on new roles. A fresh graduate of wood technology can’t operate machines or run operations in an MDF factory from day one of employment; his knowledge at graduation will be mostly theoretical. So he needs to learn on the job.
Vocational training needn’t be a second or supplementary skill. After basic schooling, young people can enter vocational schools or training programs to learn skills. They will specialize in those areas.
Second or multiple skills as an approach to development is admission of developmental failure. Nigeria needs to develop large enterprises; build factories, establish public utilities and entities like MTN, Dangote Industries, Zenith Bank, etc to employ people in their millions. That’s how national productivity will be driven to the point where the naira will begin to have value and the national minimum wage will make sense. Nigeria will not make progress by turning every young person into a POS operator; that’s for sure. You need a Zenith Bank or Access or GT bank to drive investment in retail banking services to a level of efficiency that will allow us to compete globally.
Which represents high productivity; about 10 people operating a rail – based mass transit that delivers 100,000 passengers each day or 50,000 okada riders doing the same ( assuming each carries only two passengers on a daily commute)?
Let’s judge for ourselves.
Out of ignorance, as a layman, I am wondering: does it perhaps speak to a failure of Government to provide an enabling environment for success on an industrial scale that individuals have decided to do the best they can purely on their own?
What are the necessaries of a specialization so advanced that it can compete with the rest in the world?
Constant, cheap electricity? Good luck on that! A doctor recently shared a 25 million naira bill NEPA (sorry, I can’t ever seem to remember the current acronym) has blessed him with light in his clinic, for one month.
Security of life and limb? May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you! A few weeks ago a man on his way from his farm was shot dead on Oron road- a failed attempt, we are told ,at kidnapping.
Constant, clean water? Pray,citizen, pray. For a borehole! If you pay enough attention, you will see women and children, all armed with various containers, in search of water – in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening – in the year 2024!
Good roads to transport your goods from Lagos to Port Harcourt? Thank God for the brand new Lekki- Calabar coastal superhighway! Along the way, prepare yourself for Police, Army, Road Safety, Customs, highway men and women.
For a factory, more so one on an industrial scale, which of these things is not sine qua non?
It is easy for me to understand how an individual, in this clime,chooses his immediate betterment over everything else – multiple skills( a former Minister of Health, no less, has suggested that doctors diversify into farming!),his borehole, his gated house with the pit bull, private schools, japa.
But, then again, what do I know!
SONI ANYANG IS A JOURNALIST AND AN ECONOMIST. HE IS A FORMER COMMISSIONER IN AKWA IBOM STATE AND A FORMER FEDERAL COMMISSIONER, REVENUE MOBILISATION AND FISCAL COMMISSION
