Job seekers in Nigeria have been advised to embrace self-development in order to acquire the necessary skills needed by employers and as well take the knowledge acquired from Nigeria’s poor education system to another level.

The founder of JOBMAG, Maureen Iyasele, and the co-founder, Jobberman, Opeyemi Awoyemi, gave the advice on Sunday while expressing their opinion on the Nigeria Immigration Service Recruitment exercise that left at least 15 persons dead.

On a Channels Television’s programme, ‘Rubbin’ Minds’ they questioned the idea behind organising a recruitment exercise in the stadium when it could have been held online.

Iyasele stressed that the number of applicants that were selected for the exercise showed how huge unemployment was in Nigeria and also questioned the purported decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to give automatic slots to some members of the family of those that lost their lives in the March 15 exercise. She insisted that the decision reduces the essence of the exercise. “What if the family members are not qualified?” she questioned.

She stressed the need for the government to strengthen the Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria to help them build structures that would trigger  the employment of more Nigerians.

She also called for the investigation of the exercise and stressed the need for those that initiated the test to be punished.

“Young people should be self-responsible and help themselves. They should not sit back and relax because the education system is bad.

“They can take online trainings and go for trainings to be able to get the necessary knowledge they need.

“People are unemployable because they are not equipped with the necessary knowledge and skill needed to get them the jobs. There are people that cannot write a simple letter or put two sentences together,” the founder JobMag, a website that informs Nigerians about job opportunities, stressed.

For Awoyemi, conducting a recruitment test in a stadium was out of place as the environment was not conducive for such exercise.

“Why would the immigration service think of conduction an exam in a stadium where there are no chairs and tables? In 2014? It brings nothing on board as to getting the proper candidate. You cannot invigilate candidates under such condition.

“The leadership of the immigration should take the fault,” Awoyemi stressed.

He disagreed with the argument that an online test lacked the genuine environment for tests, as people cannot be invigilated online, saying that there are centres where exams could be organised to achieve credibility.

“People should think about the real impact of things before embarking on it.  It was like a scam in a sense,” he said, referring to the immigration service exercise that was marred by stampedes.

Apply Knowledge To Create Job

On the level of unemployment in Nigeria, the co-founder of Jobberman explained that on the portal of the organisation, 1.2 million job seekers had subscribed with about 200 applicants vying for every single role.

He, however, said that a lot of young graduates applying for job were not getting called because the poor education system had left them without skills required to get the jobs they sought.

“Education has a lot to do with it. A lot are unemployed. They have not been taught how to apply their knowledge and create jobs for themselves. The typical Nigerian believes that if he has a particular qualification, he believes that he can only do a specific thing,” Awoyemi stated.

They also called on the Nigerian government to look at reforming the education sector to meet needed standard and equip graduates with the skills they need to add value to their lives.

Both entrepreneurs pointed out that the agriculture sector could create the jobs needed but also stressed that Agriculture was capital intensive, a situation that scare the youth from getting involved.

The Nigerian government, through the Bank of Industry, had made available funds that could be accessed by Nigerians to finance Agriculture.

It had asked the youth to take advantage of the scheme and access the funds.

The Nigerian Economic Summit that was held last week focused on education and how to reform the system.

Several participants stressed the need for the Nigerian education system to shift away from the traditional system of education and embrace the process that focuses on empowering the young ones with necessary skills that would enable them become innovative and create the future that they want to see.