TheCable

Muhammed Akanbi, the vice-chancellor of Kwara State University (KWASU), says it makes no sense for first-class graduates to search for jobs.

Akanbi was reacting to the recent report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which states that 21.76 million Nigerians are now unemployed.

According to the Labour Force Statistics report, the number of unemployed Nigerians went from 20.93 million in 2018 to 21.76 million in the second quarter of 2020.

Speaking when he led the university’s management team on a visit to some selected government agencies in Abuja to mobilise support for the school, Akanbi said it is wrong for universities in the country to graduate first-class students with no job-enabling skills.

He said KWASU prioritises entrepreneurship and community development, adding that the institution seeks to graduate students with skills needed to create jobs for others.

The vice-chancellor said the university students are recipients of CAC awards because “every year, almost 2,000 students register with the CAC because when they come in, it is expected that it is not going to be only a classroom thing.”

“Already, we encourage our students to engage in different entrepreneurship skills, acquire, hold and consider all certificates important. It does not make any sense if you are a first-class student and you are looking for a job. And I mean first-class in any programme,” he said.

“Our university is a university of community development and entrepreneurship. We have a centre which is being rejigged and rejuvenated. It is now called the Centre for Vocational, Technical and Entrepreneurship because we don’t want to teach entrepreneurship just in theory.

“We get our students involved in vocational things and technical aspects. You will see students engage in things like making face masks, face shields, hand sanitizers; some are into tailoring, some are into carpentry, some are into what I call mechanical automobile repair and things like that.”