On the Urgent National Need for a Practice-Based Education System to Prevent Youth Radicalization, Unemployment, Crime, and Economic Collapse
AN IDLE MIND IS THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP — AND OUR SCHOOLS ARE PRODUCING MILLIONS OF THEM
We see the children on the streets today — hungry, lost, begging, hustling, wandering with empty hands and empty eyes. Those children are not simply “misfortunate.” They are future recruits for every new wave of terrorism, cultism, kidnapping rings, cybercrime networks, political violence units, and extremist movements promising them identity and purpose.
But the street children are not the only ones at risk.
Even inside our schools, our children are idle.
In the conventional education system today, most students sit in overcrowded classrooms of one teacher to one hundred students (1:100).
No guidance.
No creative engagement.
No mentorship.
No future.
Many come to school on empty stomachs.
Many leave school with empty minds.
Their parents are struggling.
Their teachers are overwhelmed.
Their education is not building their life.
This is how we create:
Youth anger
Youth frustration
Youth violence
Youth hopelessness
And society calls them “children of nowadays” as if they created themselves.
WE ARE PRODUCING CERTIFICATES, NOT CAPACITY
The current education system trains the youth to memorize and pass exams — not to create, build, produce, earn, or solve real problems.
This is how we end up with:
Degree holders who cannot work
Graduates who cannot produce anything
Youth who feel deceived and betrayed by the nation
These idle, disappointed, unskilled graduates are the largest silent army in Nigeria today.
An idle mind becomes:
A political thug during elections
A cybercriminal behind a laptop
A religious extremist with a weapon
A drug runner looking for escape
A cultist seeking identity
We are not in a youth unemployment crisis.
We are in a national security emergency.
THE SOLUTION IS PRACTICE-BASED EDUCATION
Nigeria must shift NOW from theory-based to practice-based education, where learning is rooted in:
Doing not just knowing
Skills not just syllabus
Labs, studios, and workshops not just lecture halls
Problem-solving and enterprise not just exams
Industrial mentorship not just textbooks
This is how every developed nation industrialized — from Germany to Singapore, China to South Korea.
A NATIONAL CALL FOR PRACTICE-BASED UNIVERSITIES — LED BY YABA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Nigeria needs Practice-Based Education Universities as a national priority.
Yaba College of Technology — the birthplace of Nigeria’s technical and creative training — is the natural and strategic national leader for this transformation.
We call on the Federal Government to:
1. Upgrade Yaba College of Technology into Nigeria’s First National Practice-Based University of Design, Technology & Innovation;
2. Recognize YabaTech as the coordinating center for practice-based education reform in Nigeria;
3. Establish at least one Practice-Based University in EACH of the six geopolitical regions, aligned to regional industry strengths:
Region Practice-Based Focus
South-West Creative Industry, Fashion, Textile, Design Technology
South-East Manufacturing, Fabrication, Automotive & Machinery
South-South Marine, Oil, Gas & Petrochemical Technology
North-Central Agriculture, Food Processing & Smart Farm Innovation
North-East Renewable Energy & Environmental Technology
North-West Leather, Garment, Metal Works & Commerce-Based Craft Industries
This is how we build:
Jobs
Industries
Exports
Peace
National Identity
NO MORE LOST GENERATIONS
No more 1:100 classrooms.
No more hungry students with no mentorship.
No more idle minds for the devil’s workshop.
No more Boko Haram.
No more hate.
No more wasted youth.
Let us give the Nigerian child:
Tools, not trauma
Skills, not slogans
Workshops, not whispered regrets
Futures, not fear
Hope, not hunger
The time to act is now.
Our children cannot wait.
The nation cannot wait.
Emmanuel Olamide Balogun
On Behalf of the Nigerian Fashion, Creative, Technical and Industrial Development Community
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