HANDBOOK OF SKILL ACQUISITION TRAINING AND EMPOWERMENT

BOOK REVIEWER: PROFESSOR JOSEPH GOLWA 

Skill Acquisition: A time-honoured platform for combating the menace of general insecurity, pervasive poverty, burgeoning unemployment and destabilization of the international system.

Book Title: Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes (2nd Ed.)

Author: Dr Benjamin Onoriode Irikefe

Publisher: International Centre for Sustainable Development, Nigeria

Year of Publication: 2018

Pagination: 1074

 

The Second Edition of the Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes was published barely a year after the publication of the 826-page First Edition on 13th April, 2017. The Second Edition was mooted due to the clamour and general interest shown by well-meaning stakeholders as to the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Refugees that have come to be associated with the insurgency in the North East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. This necessitated the inclusion of a whole Chapter (that is Chapter 11), titled “Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment, Resettlement of IDPs, Refugees, Indigenes and Residents of Insurgency Devastated Territories and Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of their Communities.”

Another key feature of the Second Edition is the inclusion of a Reader’s Guide; Key Points to Note and; Revision Questions at the end of each chapter. It also covered the Spiritual Dimensions of Skill Acquisition.  

Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes (2nd Ed.) chronicles the author's well over 26 years’ involvement in the training and management of Non-Militant, Restive and Ex-Militant Youths and Persons. The book elucidates the following key elements of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes:

• A holistic Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programme should comprise of four components: Vocation Specific Training; Soft and Life Skill Training; Entrepreneurship Development Training and Post-Training Empowerment.

• As much as natural traits or endowments can aid the skills acquired through training, some aspects of learning and skill acquisition are dependent on Psychological, Psychomotor and Spiritual strength of Trainees. 

• Proper exposition of Intellectual Capital that comprise Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital are needed in skill acquisition programmes.

• Starter Packs for Graduands of Skill Acquisition Programmes should be given to them before they leave the Training and should comprise of support and vocation specific components. They should also be trained on the use and application of each component of the Starter Pack 

• Vocational and Technical Education should be taught alongside and within conventional academic curricula so that Graduates can be equipped with Vocation Specific Trades they can eke out a living, after graduation.

• All Departments in academic institutions should develop Vocation Specific Trades or MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) out of the various Academic Curricula the students can get engaged in, after graduation.

• Graduates Enskillment Programmes should be undertaken to help Graduates of Tertiary Institutions unlock their creative and vocational potentials so that they can be involved in Vocation Specific Trades or MSMEs that can help them eke out a living. 

• Operationalization and Reporting Templates are needed for effective and successful Training Programmes (over 100 Templates are provided in the book).

• Critical Success Entities must consolidate their interventions from Skill Acquisition up to Post-Training Empowerment through institutional collaborations to lift MSMEs and Artisanal Training Outfits and Artisans.

• Trainers should be proactive, accommodating and passionate when managing Trainees and also avoid the commoditization of Training Programmes.

• Provision of Skill Acquisition Training is one of the time-honoured programmes that can be used to stem down the menace of global insecurity, pervasive poverty and destabilization of the international system.

• Continuous provisions should be made to re-integrate and empower Ex-Militants, Civilian JTF (Joint Task Force) Members, De-radicalized Nigerian Repentant Ex-Boko Haram Operatives, IDPs and Nigerian Refugees to enable them lead self-reliant, productive and wholesome livelihoods.

• There is the need to properly institutionalize the resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of insurgency devastated territories and persons.

• Sambisa Joint Development Territory (SJDT) should be developed using Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model to make the Sambisa Forest a security fort and economic powerhouse for Nigeria rather than leaving it to degenerate into a safe haven for terrorists and other criminal elements to ply their trades.

Although the Second Edition of the book was unveiled at the highbrow Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on the 17th of July, 2019, the book was actually published on the 5th June, 2018. The formal unveiling was delayed due to the tight schedule of the author in several training and capacity building engagements.

The agenda setting and revolutionary nature of the book has made both pundits and specialists alike, akin the author to the “Adam Smith of Nigeria.” It can be recalled that in 1776, a Scottish Economist and Moral Philosopher, Adam Smith published his book titled “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” generally referred to by its shortened title “The Wealth of Nations.” His work is the foundation of free market economy till date. 

On the whole, the Handbook of Skill Acquisition Training and Empowerment Programmes (2nd) has been adjudged by academics and subject matter specialists as a mentoring manual that can be used to foster peace, security and sustainable development in all climes.