CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Human resource could be seen as people, who work in organizations, having certain qualities or abilities, talents, and attitudes; and who influence production, quality and profitability. They are people who could set out strategies and goals, design work systems, produce goods and services, monitor quality, allocate financial resources and market the products and services (Bratton and Gold, 1999). According to Eyiuche (2002), human resources make up the ultimate basis for the wealth of a nation. Human resources differ from other resources because of their ability to evaluate and to question management actions. For instance, capital and material resources are passive factors of production while human resources are the active agents that accumulate capital, exploit both natural and material resources, build social, economic and political organizations and cause national development enhancement. In the context of formal education, human resources have to be specifically educated in order to be able to carry out their professional responsibility (Oluremi, 2001). However, the problem here rests on the appropriate development of human resources.
As education is regarded as national investment, the most valuable of all capital is that invested in human beings. It appears that lack of adequate investment in human resources development has been responsible for the slow growth of the less developed countries in the world. Human resource development is a process of acquiring and increasing the number of persons who have skills, education and experience which are critical for economic and political development of a nation (Eyiuche, 2002). This implies that human resource development (HRD) involves acquisition of skills, knowledge and the application of knowledge and skills acquired. HRD according to Nwangwu (2007) is a process of staff improvement through strategies that foster self development, self actualization and self growth. Development involves all those activities that are geared towards the growth and improvement of skills, knowledge, abilities and attitudes of the staff of the system. A well planned and systematic HRD programme will enhance the performance of the TVE
programmes in terms of increased productivity, and will reduce costs, as well as engender high staff morale and stability in the system. HRD is growth oriented that may require in-service programmes (Nwangwu, 2007).
It seems that a greater proportion of problems confronting the development of technical education in Nigeria currently are rooted in inadequate supply of technical teachers arising from inadequate HRD strategies. The peculiarities of inadequate supply of technical education teachers may include deficiencies in quality and quantity. Most technical teachers available appear to lack industrial experience, and pedagogical training. Also limited training facilities constitute the greatest bottle-neck for staff training and retraining (Olu and Beecroft, 1987). Eze (2007) stated that TVE teachers should be specialist in their trades because lack of adequately trained TVE teachers could affect students’ enlistment in TVE programmes. Eze emphasized that if people lack technical skill, knowledge and entrepreneurial consciousness, most of the constituents of the environment will be greeted with ignorance and there may not be any commitment to discover and tap the available resources because the knowledge may be lacking and the necessary technical skill may not be acquired. In a country where the technical staff and human resources available lack these abilities, it is assumed that such country might remain underdeveloped. It is also assumed that such country where the necessary human resources, lack adequate knowledge and the technical know-how for promoting economic development, advancement may not be foreseen and predicted.