Slum2School Founder Otto Calls for Restructuring of Education Around Skill Development

By Adebisi Bolarinwa, Vanessa Foubri, and Oluwatoyin Adewale 

The founder of Slum2School Africa, Mr Orondaam Otto, has advocated for the restructuring of education around skill development from the early years to help children identify their interests, build confidence, and understand that success has many paths. 

He made this call while delivering the 56th Convocation lecture of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), held on Monday, January 19, 2026, at the J.F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium.

Speaking as the guest lecturer at the lecture titled “Maximising Nigeria’s Demographic Dividend through Urgent Education Reform for Global Competitiveness in the 21st Century,” Otto said skills must be embedded from the beginning of schooling and not treated as an optional add-on or a vocational fallback.

According to him, Nigeria’s education system places excessive emphasis on examinations and certificates while neglecting early skills acquisition, leaving many students unprepared for the labour market.

“Children spend their formative years proving what they can recall, not what they can do,” he said.

“By the time they graduate, many are academically qualified yet economically stranded.” 

He advocated for the adoption of a 3-12-4 education model, where each stage serves a clear national purpose, noting that this would require amending the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act to extend compulsory education from nine to fifteen years to legally embed early childhood education and senior secondary schooling as national responsibilities.

Otto further noted that schools must become centres of dignity, models of excellence, and hubs of inspiration rather than symbols of neglect.

“Every Nigerian school should be a place a child is proud to enter, a teacher is proud to serve, and communities are proud to own,” he said.