The Kwara State Governor, AlhajiAbdulfatah Ahmed, and Chairman, Governing Council, Kwara State Polytechnic, Prof. ShehuJimoh, have said that many Nigerian graduates are unemployable because of lack of skills.
They said many of them could not even demonstrate skills and competencies, including communication skill, adding that this had made the labour market to be saturated with unemployable youths.
They spoke during the 126th conference of the Council of Heads of Polytechnics and Colleges of Technology in Ilorin on Tuesday.
Ahmed said it was imperative to refocus attention on quality education and business skills in order to prepare the youth and students for successful entrepreneurship.
Ahmed said, “Today, our labour markets are sadly saturated with unemployable graduates, youths who cannot clearly express themselves, not to talk of possessing the required skills for self-employment.
“It is indeed worrying that most new graduates wallow in joblessness because they are either unemployable or cannot find suitable employment.
“Even more worrisome is the fact that a significant proportion of school leavers are unable to proceed to higher institutions due to limited spaces in tertiary institutions or lack of financial capacity to pursue higher education.”
He claimed that his administration had fashioned out a pragmatic strategy to address this identified gap in tertiary education and combat unemployment.
He added that his government, having recognized the importance of vocational education, had created the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development to oversee the development of vocational education.
The governor noted that this approach, which has a link with the Kwara Entrepreneurship Scheme, was driven by the belief of the government that only through appropriate education and critical technical skills can Nigeria advance its economy and curb unemployment.
