Don't Abandon Education for Quick Success — Coffie Tells Youths

The Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, Engr. Emem Coffie, has urged Nigerian youths not to abandon education in the pursuit of quick success.

Coffie gave the advice in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, stressing that education remains essential for career development and national growth.

He warned that the growing perception of education as a waste of time could undermine youth development, noting that academic knowledge provides the foundation for specialisation and professional competence. He said he had sponsored hundreds of students in Akwa Ibom, Enugu and Abuja as part of his commitment to education and youth development, adding that young people need the right foundation and support to discover their potential and become self-reliant.

Coffie said education has played a significant role in the development of advanced countries and should not be dismissed simply because some individuals have achieved success without a university education. Drawing on his roughly 35 years of professional experience as an engineer, he said academic training is particularly important in technical fields, where practical knowledge must be underpinned by a sound understanding of scientific principles.

He said youths seeking to specialise in emerging fields such as robotics must first acquire grounding in the basic sciences and relevant engineering disciplines. "The truth is that engineering is probably 90 per cent from scientific theory and 10 per cent empirical. If you want to be a robotics engineer, for example, you must have an understanding of physics and chemistry. You must also have mechanical engineering, electronics engineering and electrical engineering by the corner before you begin to do robotics," he said.

Coffie called for a system that would enable young people to complete university education early, identify their talents and specialise in their chosen careers without unnecessary delay, arguing that early identification of talent would shorten the time young people spend trying to establish themselves professionally before gaining recognition and opportunities.

He was quick to add, however, that university education should not be the only pathway to success, urging government to also support vocational training, entrepreneurship and other trades. "Everybody doesn't need to go to university. That's why we get everybody wrong, but whatever level, whatever trade you should apply, the government should support you, train you and make you relevant," he said.

On translating education and skills into employment, Coffie called for greater investment in industrialisation in Akwa Ibom, urging government to train young people in areas relevant to industries that could be established in the state, including oil and gas, refineries, gas processing facilities and steel plants. He advocated apprenticeship programmes to prepare youths for such industries, saying participants should be financially supported during training.

"You begin to prepare them, empower them to programme the way they will learn such skills, and within that period pay them. Even if they are doing an apprenticeship scheme, pay them during that period so that you can encourage them to participate in such," he said.

He also called for support for small and medium-scale enterprises, including affordable loans to help traders and entrepreneurs expand their businesses, and proposed establishing cottage industries across the state's local government areas to create jobs, utilise local raw materials and boost residents' incomes. He identified palm oil processing and the production of briquettes from palm kernel waste as opportunities that could support small-scale industry.

The engineer further called for a return to Akwa Ibom's original development master plan, urging successive administrations to continue projects initiated by their predecessors, including the deep seaport, science park, airport, road network and power plants. He said the state needs to revisit its original development priorities and continue projects capable of improving residents' living conditions, arguing that road construction alone cannot address poverty without industries and businesses to provide jobs and sustainable incomes.

Coffie said his proposed development agenda, tagged "A New Drive Back to the Genesis," would focus on human capital development, industrialisation, skills acquisition and support for small businesses.

 "When I say Genesis, let's go back to that master plan and start to execute it all over again. Road construction is interesting but road construction does not put food on the table of people," he said.