In considering people's decision to enroll at the Institute of Industial Technology (IIT) Lagos, Nigeria, for the 3-Year Electro-mechanics Programme for Young School Leavers, it may be useful to keep the following points in mind:

1. The spectacular rise in the standard of living experienced in recent times all over the world – although to a lesser extent in Nigeria – is a pointer to the fact that the world is becoming more and more technology dependent.

2. Unfortunately, this growing dependence on technology has not been matched by a proportionate increase in the number of properly trained, competent and motivated technicians and engineers – needed to design, install, maintain and adapt these new technologies – being produced by our technical colleges, polytechnics and universities. That is why all over the world, governments, employers, educationists and policy makers have raised the alarm over the impending skills crisis and acute shortage of engineering technicians.


3. The effects of the skills crisis are already being felt in Nigeria. Most of the new equipment being imported for our manufacturing industries are highly automated and contain different technologies ranging from mechanical to electrical/electronics and information technology. They often require the expensive services of expatriate technicians and engineers to service and maintain them since our local technicians and engineers are often deficient. The new cars people now buy are beyond the capacities of our locally trained mechanics to maintain etc. Hence the high cost of maintaining new cars that require the service of the few (and often foreign) service technicians available in the country.

4. In Nigeria, our cultural bias for white-collar jobs and paper qualifications represents a formidable obstacle to our addressing the local skills shortage. Every year, many of our brightest students enrol for engineering courses in the universities and polytechnics. By the time they graduate, few mechanical technicians or engineers would know how to use a lathe machine or repair a generator, Even fewer electrical engineers would be able to design and install a PHCN transformer substation or wire an electrical control panel for a pumping station. Bereft of any useful specifically engineering skills, many of them (especially the bright ones) leave engineering totally. Some embark on an IT or Banking careers or join some of the multi-national business consulting firms like Price Waterhouse, Accenture and KPMG, etc. Many end up concluding that the many hours they spent mastering complex differential equations they were never going to use and cooking up experimental results to satisfy their lecturers were a waste of time

5. We are thus faced with a paradox. Though the brightest amongst our children continue to opt for engineering and the demand for engineers and engineering technicians continues to increase, more and more of those that graduate from engineering end up leaving engineering altogether for want of engineering skills. The concept of the “theoretical engineer” is now proverbial in Nigeria.

6. With over 10 years of experience in engineering training/education, we at IIT are convinced of the following:

a. That the highest form of theory is practice

b. That though knowledge may be expensive, ignorance is much worse

c. That the emerging field of Electro-mechanics with its emphasis on the integration of various technologies such as mechanical, electrical, electronics and automation is capable of fulfilling the professional aspirations (both intellectually and financially) of our ever idealistic youth because of its unique blend of theory and practice.

d. That ethical values should inform professional practice.

7. The 3-Year Electro-mechanics programme which IIT offers is implemented based on the world renowned German Dual Training System that uses both the school and the factory as venues of learning. This ensures that the students appreciate the practical relevance of the concepts that they learn in school. By exposing our students to mechanical, electrical, electronics and automation technologies we equip them with the necessary foundation for their future careers as engineers or engineering technicians who increasingly have to deal with equipment incorporating all the above mentioned technologies.

8. After 3 years, successful students graduate from IIT with nationally and internationally recognized certifications in Mechanical Engineering (NABTEB) and Applied Electrical Engineering (City and Guilds). What is more? They are equipped with world-class skills that industry urgently needs. Thus if they so wish, they can actually work and with their salary pay for their university tuition with the added advantage of being able to appreciate the practical relevance of the theory they may learn in the undergraduate and graduate schools of engineering. Not a bad bargain if you ask me!

9. Since its inception in 2002, the IIT Electro-mechanics programme has produced graduates who have all gained full employment within 6 months of their graduation. IIT electro-mechanics graduates (technicians) are now gainfully employed in the following companies: Nestlé, Friesland Foods, Guinness, Nigerian Breweries, Tetra-Pak, British American Tobacco (BAT), Proctor and Gamble (P&G) to name a few.