Ahead of the Nigeria Economic Summit that will begin on Tuesday, participants have been tasked on discussing how tertiary institutions can inculcate in undergraduates, the culture of doing voluntary work during their period of studies to equip them with needed experience that could enable them get a job after their studies.
On Channels Television’s programme, Business Morning, a Human Capital Development Expert, Mike Adeleye, said that the increasing number of unemployed persons in Nigeria was a result of the fact that many graduate are unemployable at the moment because they lack the necessary skill.
He suggested that the voluntary work period should be included in the curriculum of institutions in Nigeria to help give the push to the culture. His comments come on Monday, two days after some job seekers lost their lives in stampedes that occurred at various centres of the Nigeria Immigration Service job screening exercise. “The majority of our job seekers now have no job experience.
“How will the private sector get someone that does not have experience to work in the sector? “The problem started from the tertiary institutions. The culture of doing voluntary work before graduation is not here. “We can’t put all the blame on the government. The job seekers have nothing to offer in some cases and this has reduced their chances of getting a job. Some of them cannot even write a good resume,” he said.
Mr Adeleye also commended the government’s idea of an internship scheme, saying it is a fantastic idea.
He urged the government to increase awareness on the Government Internship Scheme, as many undergraduates were not aware that the scheme existed.
“Many of these graduates do not know about the government scheme and how to access it. The government should do more publicity and let the unemployed know how to access it,”Mr Adeleye pointed out.
An economic Analyst, Ezekiel Adeleye, stressed the need for the government to take the issue of education funding very seriously.
He also pointed out that the foundation of education in Nigeria was already weak, emphasising the need for re-orientation of the students to ensure that they would be interested in acquiring the necessary skills while in school so that they could get jobs after school.
The summit is expected to hold sessions that will focus on the education sector while participants will be looking to proffer solution to the dwindling standard of education in Nigerian and look at ways of improving the sector.