ADULT EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MANPOWER RESOURCES IN NIGERIA

This paper examined the various ways adult education can contribute to development of manpower resources in Nigeria. It also identified some relevant adult education programmes that can be used to improve the quality and skills of workers in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the Nigerian labour force is fraught with illiterates and products of formal education system, the curriculum of which could not cater for the rapid technological changes and knowledge required to continuously function effectively in both the industry and the labour market at large. Obviously, formal school education alone cannot make workers functionally effective throughout their working life, particularly as today’s knowledge society tends to render previously acquired knowledge and skills inappropriate for effective operation in societal life. The need arises for Nigerian workers to be updated and reskilled using adult education programmes in order to remain relevant on their jobs and professions. By utilizing the facilities of already established institutions (as is always the case), adult education through its plethora of programmes, is capable of developing and improving, within a short period and at less cost, the productive capacity of the nation’s much needed human capital. This involves a vast programme of educational re-conversion and re-training which must be affected through out-of school, part-time education, which is the field of adult education. The study analyzed how the following adult education programme: adult basic education, extension education, workers’ education, vocational education, open and distance learning (ODL) and extra-mural studies can be used to develop and improve the skills of Nigeria’s labour force.