NIGERIA GRADUATES AND UNEMPLOYABILITY: WHICH WAY FORWARD?

In 2014, I participated in an essay competition on the above topic. To the Glory of God, My essay was amongst the best 10. Today,
am republishing it for all to read so that we can beging to seek for ways of salvaging our nation from this particular problem.

INTRODUCTION

Unemployment amongst the Nigerian youths has become a thing of great National concern. According to Solanke (2014), ‘the National Bureau of statistics released the unemployment rate for 2010 as 21.1percent; 23.9percent in 2011, and then skyrocketed to an alarming rate of 54percent in the year 2012’. Shockingly, greater percentages of these unemployed youths are university and polytechnic graduates. The most disturbing evidence of graduate unemployment is the recent ill-fated, recruitment exercise by the National Immigration Commission, where not fewer than 500,000 graduates turned up to seek 5,000 vacancies in the service. This is indeed a calamity!

However, more alarming and distressing is ‘the quality of these graduates’. During my National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) Orientation Camp in Kebbi State, Nigeria, I wondered, how on Earth some corps members graduated from the university; majority cannot make simple sentences without murdering the basic rules of grammar. No wonder Kumah (2012), said that, ‘the content of the certificate is inversely proportional to the capabilities of the carrier’.

CAUSES

If we are to throw stones of blame about the cause(s) of this threatening scourge, many heads will be hit. Some will blame the government for the poor state of infrastructures in our tertiary Institutions, ranging from: deficient lecture theaters, dilapidated hostels, near empty laboratories, government-lecturer disagreement, etc.

Others will rather blame the lecturers for their retarded, archaic and outdated curriculum, whose content does not flow well with the current trend of the present day competitive labour market, and then, the incessant strikes these lecturers embark on, which frequently result to break in flow of study. Furthermore, others will blame the students for not showing enough interest in learning.

THE WAY FORWARD

It is only a full understanding of the reasons behind the ‘unemployable nature’ of the present day graduates that will afford us the opportunity of discerning what the possible solutions are. Haven X-rayed the possible causes of graduate unemployability; this essay proffers lasting solutions to these problems:

Firstly, government in collaboration with some companies should organize training programmes for university instructors to help them gain more experience as it relates to the work the students are likely to face when they graduate. It must also ensure that the lecturers continuously update their knowledge. This will close up the wide gap between what the students learn in the classrooms and what they are likely to face after graduation.

Secondly, government must ensure provision of basic infrastructure in our learning institutions; well-equipped Laboratories and libraries, good classrooms and hostels, and improved welfare package for the lecturers.

Also, “what is worth doing is worth doing well”. The students should take priority in studying, they should on their own develop their soft skills and communication abilities through personal training, they must partake in extracurricular activities; volunteer to work at churches, mosques or schools.

CONCLUSION

There is an overwhelming disparity between the 1960s graduates and the present-day graduates. Therefore, rectifying the anomalies is a joint task incumbent on all stakeholders, not just the government. All hands must be on deck!

REFERENCES

1. ABIOLA SOLANKE , “Nigeria’s Unemployable Graduates”( APRIL 22, 2014). Available online at http://www.punchng.com/opinion/nigerias-unemployable-graduates/

2. MKATE NKANSA-DWAMENA, “Thoughts on graduate unemployment: let’s focus on the solutions” (January22, 2014). Available online athttp://katenkansa.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/graduate-unemployment-lets-focus-on-the-solutions/comment-page-1/

3. MmEMMANUEL KUMAH, “Solutions to Graduate Unemployment: Part 1” (May 2012). Available online at http://emmanuelkumah.blogspot.nl/solutions-to-graduate-unemployment-part.html?m=1/