why graduate unemployment is high in Nigeria
Why graduate unemployment rate is high in Nigeria
Written by EMEKA EZEKIEL
Tuesday, 09 December 2008
Lack of requisite skills to meet the job requirements of employers have been identified as one of the major reasons responsible for the high rate graduate unemployment in Nigeria. “Tim Akano, chief executive officer of New Horizon Training Institute, told BusinessDay in an interview in Lagos that the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria was not as a result of unavailability of jobs but dearth of skilled manpower to fill existing job opportunities. According to him, one of the major causes of graduate unemployment is not that there is scarcity of jobs but dearth of skilled manpower to fill the existing opportunities in the job market. Currently, over 70 percent of graduates from Nigerian universities and various tertiary institutions have difficulty in getting jobs. In fact seven out of 10 university graduates are unemployed, underemployed or unemployable., We carried out a research which revealed that the problem with Nigeria is not scarcity of jobs but we do not have people who have the skills that employers are looking for. He disclosed that his organisation has employed about 100 people and planning to expand to West African countries, adding that the major challenge was how to find people with the right skill to do the job.
His wordS: “There are lots of employers that want to expand their businesses and need people with the right skills. There are people in this country who are changing jobs almost every four months whereas others have been looking for job since the last five years . The reason for this contrasting situation is because of the type of skills they have. People go into the labour market thinking that their B.Sc or BA is sufficient for them to get a job. This is not enough because the B.Sc or BA only certifies you academically”. He however stated that employers are the look-out for people who are qualified professionally to solve professional and not academic problems, stressing that there was a mismatch between what the tertiary institutions produce and what employers need, hence the skill gap. Akano further noted that the country’s dream of becoming one of the leading economies by the year 2020 would be a mirage unless adequate government takes adequate steps to ensure that relevant agencies embrace information and communication technology. “The value of a country is not measured by the amount of its natural resources but on its productivity which to a large extent depends on how it effectively deploys the available skills and talents. Nigeria ’s quest of becoming one of 20 leading economies by 2020 will be a mirage unless we have the requisite skills in Information and Communication Technology. In order to meet the vision 2020 target, the government must ensure that all its agencies are ICT compliant”, he said.
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