Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.5, No.11, 2014 173 Towards Boosting Vocational and Technical Education for Self- reliance; Issues and Panorama Yahaya Tukur Department of accountancy, Federal Polytechnic Bali yahayatukur@yahoo.com Nana Aisha Kaigamma Department of Business and Management, Federal Polytechnic Mubi Abdulrahman Saidu Department of Computer Science, Federal Polytechnic Bali abdulrahmansaidu@gmail.com Abstract The Target date is 2015 when Education shall be for All (EFA). This is one of the anticipated outcomes of educational reforms of the present administration. Other aspects of the reforms that permeate the entire sectors of the economy include health, transport, housing and finance, just to mention a few, all of which are aimed at meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This paper identifies some of the implementation problems of And Technical Education which range from inadequate facilities, curriculum defect, use of incompetent (non-professional) teachers, dearth of qualified and Technical education teachers, etc. Consequent upon this, the paper posited that, as an aspect of education, the And Technical Education prcgrammes should be re-strategized through Repositioning and re-engineering in the area of curriculum restructuring, engagement of professionally qualified and competent teachers, government release of adequate funds for equipment procurements, among others, towards overcoming the inherent implementation problems. This strategy would not only ensure the economic empowerment of Nigeria, but also facilitate rapid national economic development. Anything short of this shall make "Education for AH" become "Education for None". Keywords: Repositioning, Vocational, Technical, Education, Strategy and Developing. I. NTRODUCTION According to Sadiq, (2001) "No education system can rise above the quality of its teachers", this is a popular saying. This paper dare that "no National Economic Empowerment and Development strategy can rise above the level of Vocational And Technical Education." Perhaps this expresses the view of Kwairanga (1999) in Sadiq, Kire and Kwairanga (2006) where he said: “National development is the sustained upliftment of the well being of an entire society towards a better human life”. It connotes and involves complete re-organization of the entire system of a society, be it economic, political, social or educational, with a view to improving the quality of its members. The above expectant expression can best be rooted in a well Repositioning and re-engineered Vocational And Technical Education programme towards realizing the national education objectives, which aspires functionalism or vocationalism, as contained in the National Policy on Education (1989). This is premised on the believe that the And Technical Education programme, if well repositioned, is a gate-way towards enhancing the economic empowerment and development of both individuals and the nation. Doubtlessly, Umunnah (1992) lends credence to this assertion when he opined that "the focus of education, specifically And Technical Education, is the social and economic welfare of the individual students and the society at large". Vocational and Technical Education is expectedly functional which should bestow on its reupiencs the wherewithals that will make them contribute positively to the development of the nation. Thus, while education is the key to development (Ukeje, 1996) in Omenkeukwu (1998:67), Vocational and Technical Education is an engine that generates the creativity and skillfulness desirable for such development. It is rather unfortunate that for a long time our school system has been permeated by fear of vocationalism and uncreativeness (Lawal 1984) and only succeeded in producing job-seekers rather than job-makers (Sadiq 1998:69). This does not guarantee individual economic empowerment nor its attendant national development. The poor implementation and consequent positioning of Vocational and technical Education only worsens the dwindling situation. As a result, the poverty and unemployment rates in Nigeria remain on the high side (FGN, 2004:6). After all, the success or failure of any economy depends on the functionality of its vocational education system, (Osuala, 1992). It is in recognition of the desire to create job-makers out of Nigeria, through Vocational And Technical Education, which makes them acquire employable and saleable skills, that this paper intends to stress the urgent need to reposition the Vocational And Technical Education through its implementation. In particular, the paper