We Need Technical Education for Job Creation- Dr. Alkali, Presidential Aspirant from Sokoto

We Need Technical Education for Job Creation- Dr. Alkali, Presidential Aspirant from Sokoto

NEWS DIGEST – Dr Abubakar Alkali is a grass-root politician from Sokoto has Bsc Degree in Chemistry and MBA from Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. He also holds Master’s degree in Oil and Gas Engineering from PhD in Chemical and Processing Engineering from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland.

In this interview with the News Digest anchored by the Editor, Gidado Shuaib, Dr. Alkali speaks on his political aspiration towards 2019 elections.

Dr Abubakar: Well,to be fair to Mr President, I think, his intention is that he hasn’t made that statement to demean Nigerians. I watched the video over and over. He made the statement to encourage our youths. I also think in this area of politicking, a lot of people try to misinterpret statements for political gains.

 I believe that the current level of poverty is unacceptable. And I believe that we can do better. There are so many resources in this country that Nigeria has no business with poverty. We are yet to exploit the abundant natural resources in this country to create wealth. We can’t build our economy around Oil alone. We have to diversify our economy to create wealth in other areas. The government need to pursue skill acquisition and entrepreneurial training of youths on such skills as welding, brick laying, plumbing, tailoring, fashion designing among others. There should be a social security system that guarantees payment of cash stipends to people who are not working or who cannot work.

Dr Abubakar: N-Power is working but it can be improved upon to do better. The N- Power and other similar programmes are not in our constitution. They need to be backed by relevant laws so that it could get appropriate appropriations and legality to operate successfully.  A Comprehensive Economic Development Model (CDEM) can be introduced to encompass job creation and skill acquisition. There’s so much resources in the house of a few. How could you pay a public office holder 13.5 million every month while you leave the people he’s supposedly representing hungry.

We need more technical colleges. The educational system needs to be reformed through better models.  A 7-4-2-4 system may be more appropriate with emphasis on technical skills, science engineering and innovation. The system implies that pupils will spend 7 years in primary schools, 6 years in secondary schools which the 6 is divided into two. He or she can leave secondary school at class 4 as long as he or she is 16 and then proceed to technical college to spend two years studying electrical engineering, painting, welding, auto mechanism amongst all. That will give them the foundation of technical knowledge. And from there, to the university. In fact we need technical education for job creation.

Dr Abubakar: We are aware that the government has not been able to fulfil some of its promises. Hard choices have to be made. My state, Sokoto for instance has the best goat skin but nothing is made out of it. In Aba, there are people who can make good shoes and bags out of them. We can connect the goatskin potential of Sokoto and the entrepreneur and creativity of Aba to turn Nigeria into the hub of shoe business in Africa.

I want to be elected President of Federal Republic of Nigeria president because I want to implement an economic program for this nation. I want to bring in policies and programs that will ensure a fair distribution of resources. I want to be President because I want to fight poverty.

Dr Abubakar: Definitely. I’m going to institute strategic political reforms in this country. And unicameral legislature is part of it. We have a situation where the appropriation (budget) is killed because we have about 80% going to the current expenditure. And less than 20% going to the capital expenditure. So, the government is too heavy, and there are so many leakages. And you see, it’s not sustainable having a bicameral legislature. It’s not. And the level of poverty in this country doesn’t justify the continued maintenance of a bicameral legislature.  All arms and tiers of government will be reformed. I want to have a trimmed, sharp and effective government.

Dr Abubakar: I’ve considered the funding and I tell you that we have the money. We have the money to create jobs. In my economic diversification program, I will actually prioritize on rice and cotton. And I’m going to use research centres like the Agricultural Institute at ABU Zaria as research hubs for rice and cotton. Each of the state of the federation, under my manifesto, will have one rice processing factory and one textile processing factory. That will facilitate the springing up of small medium enterprises. I want Nigeria to be the hub of rice and textile production in Africa. These are my targets. Regarding the funding, we have to bear the pain. The pain is to block leakages, cut down the bloated size of government and invest in the community. I also have many ideas and strategies towards youths empowerment through skills acquisition and technical training. We have to also diversify to the mining and agricultural sectors for revenue and job creations

Dr Abubakar: Well, I’m currently a member of the APC and yes, I’m looking at options on the table. I may contest under the platform of APC or I may seek a coalition of political parties.

Dr Abubakar: My message is we should rededicate ourselves to this country. We should be ready to stick our necks for this country. I agree to a large extent that so many things aren’t right but that doesn’t mean we should shy away. I want us to vote right leaders. I want the youths to stay away from money-politics. Ensure you have your PVCs. That’s important. I believe together we can create a new Nigeria of our dreams.

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