Roles of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Curbing Electoral Violence in Rivers State, Nigeria

This study focused on the roles of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in curbing electoral violence in Rivers State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design guided the study. The population comprised 42 Technical and Vocational Education and Training lecturers in Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. No sampling was done as the population was manageable. Three research questions and one hypothesis was formulated for the study. A questionnaire titled “Role of TVET in Curbing Electoral Violence†(RTVETCEV) was developed to elicit responses from the respondents. The instrument was validated by three experts in the fields of Vocational and Technology Education and Training and Political Science. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha Reliability coefficient. Statistical Mean was used to answer the research questions while standard deviation was used to determine the homogeneity in the responses of the respondent and z-test was used to test the hypothesis. The reliability coefficient achieved was 0.84. The study found that youth unemployment, quest by politicians to acquire power at all cost are some of the causes of electoral violence in Rivers State. The study showed that Technical and Vocational Education and Training plays the vital role of helping to groom youths to be self-reliant and meaningfully engaged by equipping them with the required technical and vocational skills. Among the recommendations in the study is the establishment of well-equipped vocational and technical education training centres in each of the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State for the training of youths.