Stakeholders suggest strategic steps to curb unemployment

With about 27 percent unemployment rate today in the country, coupled with underemployment, high competition in the labour market and the frustration of job seekers, concerned industry watchers and Human resources experts have called for the strategic steps towards the re-orientation of undergraduates from being job seekers to job-creators.

In Nigeria and indeed other parts of the world, youths represent over 70 percent of the population and it has been observed that one of the greatest challenges bedeviling developing countries is the issue of unemployment among the most productive sections of the population.

While the situation may appear to have intensified in recent time, especially in Nigeria, there has been a serious clamour for a workable integration of entrepreneurship education into the curriculum of the nation’s schools to stem the tide of unemployment among youths in the country.

The harsh economic realities in the country today notwithstanding, not a few education watchers are still confident that given the right kind of training, upcoming generations of graduates when given proper orientation and entrepreneurial education can become successful here in Nigeria.

Ademola Onifade, a human resources expert in Lagos while speaking on the current issue of unemployment in the country, advised on the need for students to learn to employ a good time management technique in their study, and to also hone their business potentials while in school, so that when they graduate, they would be employers of labour rather than job seekers.

Onifade pointed out that it was important for undergraduates to be determined and know the aspect of their study that would help enhance their capabilities, while being smart enough to explore the opportunities of generating income around them.

He therefore, added that when incorporated into the educational system, entrepreneurial skills would provide benefits to society, even beyond their application to business activity.

Mustapha Chike-Obi, Managing Director/CEO for Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) at a recent education stakeholder’s forum revealed that with Nigeria growing at three and half percent a year, statistics shows that 6million new Nigerians grow every year, which means the country needs to be creating approximately 6 million jobs a year.

Chike-Obi maintains that there is no government plan or programme that can create 6million jobs a year, without the active support of the private sector.

According to him, “The solution to create more jobs which is fiscal and policy driven solution. Nigeria must spend more money to industrialise, if not we will never create more jobs. We must have policies that support industrialisation. That creates a most number of jobs at the highest level of compensation that can drive the economy forward”

He reiterated the need to revisit the Nigeria education system as a matter of urgency if the issue of unemployment is to be resolved. “Vocational training is when we begin to understand that we need to have practical trainings in our higher institutions, it is not about cramming what you read. We need to go back to our educational system and train our people better” he said.

KELECHI EWUZIE