Buhari to universities: It is worrying our graduates are described as unemployable
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Nigerian universities to focus attention on making Nigerian graduates employable.
He made the call while speaking at the 31st convocation of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo state, on Saturday.
He was represented by Suleiman Yusuf, the deputy executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Buhari said the description of Nigerian graduates as unemployable by employers of labour is worrisome to his administration.
He said universities should live up to their mandate and ensure that their graduates are employable.
“In today’s globalised knowledge economy in which the wealth, strategic importance and ranking of any country in the comity of nations is determined largely by its knowledge economy index, my expectation is that our universities will use the instrumentality of their tripartite mandates of teaching, research and community engagement to launch Nigeria into an enviable position among nations of the world,” he said.
“In this regard, government expects Nigerian universities to produce graduates imbued with the requisite knowledge, competencies, attitudes, and skills to be active role players in our quest for socio-economic and technological development.
“I expect universities to pay serious attention to the less than complimentary assessment of the graduates of our universities by employers of labour. Definitely, we cannot be comfortable when products of our citadels of learning are being described as ‘unemployable’, exhibiting lack of job-readiness and so on.”
Buhari asked universities to teach and train students on the requisite knowledge, competencies, attitudes, and skills needed to promote economic development in the country.
In his remarks, Joseph Fuwape, vice-chancellor of the university, asked the graduating students to remain focused and determined as they embark on various life endeavours.
It is true that some Nigerian Universities produce half baked graduates who are not employable by reputable companies.
However, we still have quite a number of highly intelligent graduates who are highly skilled in their various field of study with good results to back it up but still can’t secure meaningful employment because the few available jobs are usually reserved for the ones that are connected to the top.
Mr president, we appeal to you to also look into the aspect of creating more jobs to meet up with the ever increasing Nigeria graduates.
Thank you, God bless you Mr president.
Thank you Mr. President