From the Proprietor
With great joy, I welcome you all today to Omorinola Vocational Technology and Entrepreneurship Institute (OVTEI).
By the grace of God, I have travelled to different countries of the world and lived outside Nigeria for over a decade now. I have seen how developed countries take as a matter of priority vocational, technical and entrepreneurship education. One may argue that this is one of the cornerstones for the enormous industrial advancements seen in the majority of the world's developed nations, including China, the United States of America, Canada, etc.
The opposite is true in Nigeria, where conventional courses like business administration, sociology, and economics are now offered at most institutions built to train in the aforementioned areas of technical, entrepreneurial, and vocational training. Even though I have nothing against such programmes, it is easy to draw the conclusion that Nigeria's high unemployment rate is directly related to the curricula that is taught in its schools given that the majority of Nigerian university graduates finish their degrees and wait to be hired by the government after completing the National Youth Service Corps.
This is putting undue pressure on the government. The country is at a cross road. People are beginning to see that emphasizing paper qualification has not been able to guarantee the industrial growth of the country. Companies are closing down; fewer jobs are available for a large number of people and the numbers of graduates are increasing on yearly basis. As the adage goes; “An idle hands is the devil’s workshop”. When a large proportion of the graduates could not secure employment opportunities, they take to various heinous ventures inimical to the socio-economic and political stability of the country.
The only way to avert the current socio-economic crisis bedeviling the country is to involve and train the throngs of Nigerian youths to gain practical skills that are required in the job market or that can enable them to become self-employed and ultimately, employers of labour. This is because the only guarantee for economic prosperity of any nation is dependent on the skills and competencies of her workforce.
This is what Omorinola Vocational Technology and Entrepreneurship Institute (OVTEI) is poised to do. OVTEI is set up to fill the skills gap by proffering solutions through the training of candidates in the acquisition of hands–on skills that can make them employable/self-employed or employers of labour.
Therefore, local and international partners, philanthropists, non-governmental organizations, and the government (federal, state, and local government) are all cordially invited to join us in this admirable project to eradicate unemployment and/or underemployment in Nigeria and restore the nation's industrial growth.
Thank you and God bless you.
Shepherd Folayan-Joseph Ojegele ADEBAYO