feasy1:

PrinceKevo,
I guess you do not need to crucify Pa-Ken, I believe what he said can be put to practice in Nigeria, having worked abroad and appreciate employers not keen about my certificates but my ability to deliver, meets and exceed targets, it changed my orientation about the rationale behind worshiping certificates in Nigeria, I took up a short term role  as a technical Project Manager with a company on a 3G Optimization project  of one of the Mobile Operator's in Nigeria prior to its commercial launch late 2008.

I had to recruit the guys to be on my team, tons of CV had been received and on my selection criteria, experience far outweighs whatever certificates you have, at the end of the day I ended up not asking any of the successful guys to show me if they had a degree or not,  one of the top performers happens to be a Youth Corp member who had some experience and could deliver better than guys some guys with loads of certificates.

We really need to look inward and encourage ourselves to turn Nigeria to a better place to live, BTW while I was leaving after three months, the same was asked to act as the Project Manager and he is doing just great now, attended some PM oriented training and he's continued to be a top performer with more responsibilities.

So how do you gather the experience if no one's willing to give you the opportunity (like you did some people) even WHEN you offer to be a non-paid volunteer??

Hence the reason why most people in Nigeria accumulate degrees . .

The problem is our system:

- FIX the damn Power system and you will see how many robbers / okada drivers will be off the streets.

- Encourage and support technical education.

I remember some going to the under bridge at oshodi several years ago - these young igbo boys had their own radio station!! with a decent transmitter designed by them from scratch and several receivers all around the electronics market. Some of them were also builing actuators used in cable antennae.

Why cant we support, encourage and develop these kinds of people??

Instead we run them down and go buy from china

@ Poster, someone said it above that the system is faulty.

I cannot count the number of friends / classmates I had back then who really really wanted to be electrical / mechanical engineers and they had first class degrees in such fields in college.

But guess what, no one would hire them and these guys are now bank employees!!

Talk about the real brain drain - folks who should be helping our country's engines run smoothly are instead bank tellers counting money.

_____

My uncle was hired by a south African nation to help fix their countries electricity system. He has since finished the project and the country has electricity 24 hours of the day. This uncle of mine is back in Nigeria lecturing at one of the universities - no govt official has deemed it fit to tap his brain.

gregejige,

If we have increasing number of Nigerians willing to give such oppurtunities guess the story will change in the near future, its all about the value systems. As regards our techie graduates turning to tellers in banks, this is really saddening, many times i discuss such issues with colleagues and really wish a solution could be found without having to rely on the government since that has been proved futile in recent years

^^^^ Well it all boils down the the system, govt and the power situation in some ways.

Most companies are running from Nigeria simply because of erratic power supply and I dont blame them.

What is an electrical / mechanical engineer without electricy or the freedom to generate it? nothing! . . so who's goin to hire them??

What is the govt doing about power ? . . .  all talk and nothing.

If you cant handle it. privatise the damn thing or let the states who can generate their own do it!

The whole school system should be looked at holistically, what is benefit of spending too much time in school and after those long years your employer will till have to train you on the job?

Pa-Ken:

Thank you very much feasy1. I have gone through a lot of responses and I'm quite happy that we have spotted the loopholes in our educational system. It is now high time future employers desist from this craze about qualifications and start recruiting based on strengths, capabilities and technical know how a candidate will bring into an organization or establishment. I have already started in my own little way.

My brother, in as much as i agree with in some point i will disagree with you in some .

1. The systems in Nigeria and UK shall never be the same.

2. The education system are not the same, for example, In UK they have Vocation schools where some one can acquire formal vocational skills that qualifies him for some jobs without even going for tertiary institution. In Nigeria you need to learn from a road side mechanics or Carpenter to be skilled in such a jobs.

3. Nigerian employers value certificate more than the informal skill acquire. A graduate of mechanical engineer who can not even recognise wheel spanner if presented to him, will be a better candidate than someone who actually acquire the skills through informal training and got experience for the job. That is Nigerian system, you dont blame the people but the government that made it remain so.

Moreover i don't buy your idea of people going for experience first b4 education. That Nigerian certificate is worthless as a result of the educational is not enough reason to dismiss the importance of acquiring formal education/skills b4 working. You jst mention the good side of it, with few examples, but at the long run it is very dangerous for a nation like the one am living in now. Every one is fighting for experience to get a better job, non want to go to school anymore. A kid who started working at the age of 16 finds it difficult to subject him/herself to the lecturer. Their position at the companies  and fat account make them believe they have no need for more education or acquiring a certificate. We live in an Era that the kids of these days are being forced to go to school, even when their government encourages them with free education. Every one want a short cut to success, so don't think the Nigerian government provided that shortcut and the people refused to take advantage of it.

education siw aht d devil has used to occupy d minds of people to make dem be far from their creator

^^^^ with this kinda crumpled english, you really need to be educated.

NA WAITING I DEY CHECK

why wont he compare Nigeria and U.k,Th idea we use in Nigeria was sold to us by this people,we were meant to fashion out a system that will work for us.

In India you will never see any Nigerian working in a telecom sector,or oil company there,why are they in our country?what skill do they have that we cannot get?

Iran as is own oil,his own ship,and engineers,nigeria as the oil,with foreign companies paying royalities ,foreign workers and they also tell you how much  to sell your oil.

Well,i will not decieve my self Afica is very rich country and the poverty in africa is tied to the prosperity in europe,if you go rich and do the right thing,they will not be okay ,so we may remain like this for a longtime t come.

I was SHOCKED when i applied for my 1st real job here in the states and the panel i was talking to just asked about my previous experience with other jobs and how good on hand with what I was applying for and basically nothing about my education.
I made mention that i have OND(ordinary national disgrace) and HND(higher national disgrace) and a lady called me aside and said my certs were not needed for OUR schools are not respected.
Asked why and she went into a lenghty sheet of reasons why and number 1 was that the educational system was so corrupt they dont know who to really turn to for authenticity so basically they look for some sort of education here and also your work experience(not lenght of time you worked)
the it dawned on me(i basically wasted 7 yrs trying to get an education that ius not respected world wide
The Nigerian educational system really needs an over-hauling

milehigh06:

I was SHOCKED when i applied for my 1st real job here in the states and the panel i was talking to just asked about my previous experience with other jobs and how good on hand with what I was applying for and basically nothing about my education.
I made mention that i have OND(ordinary national disgrace) and HND(higher national disgrace) and a lady called me aside and said my certs were not needed for OUR schools are not respected.
Asked why and she went into a lenghty sheet of reasons why and number 1 was that the educational system was so corrupt they dont know who to really turn to for authenticity so basically they look for some sort of education here and also your work experience(not lenght of time you worked)
the it dawned on me(i basically wasted 7 yrs trying to get an education that ius not respected world wide
The Nigerian educational system really needs an over-hauling

The best university in Nigeria is around 8000 in the world,maybe its political,but i know the edcuation is crab and some of does profs that frustate you in Nigeria are not known in the world except few.I was in Nigeria recently and a young boy told me he studies computer sceince,i was just laughing,because is irritating to hear that word after a longtime,how can be be jack of all trade and you will still not know anything.I had to expaln to the boy about networking,information systems managment,Business Information technology, software technology,embeeded,computer enginerring,media eng,which one are you,no ans,i tire

it's a pity.

olas2u:


The best university in Nigeria is around 8000 in the world,maybe its political,but i know the edcuation is crab and some of does profs that frustate you in Nigeria are not known in the world except few.I was in Nigeria recently and a young boy told me he studies computer sceince,i was just laughing,because is irritating to hear that word after a longtime,how can be be jack of all trade and you will still not know anything.I had to expaln to the boy about networking,information systems managment,Business Information technology, software technology,embeeded,computer enginerring,media eng,which one are you,no ans,i tire

I wonder what was funny to you. Yes, people do get first degrees in computer science then maybe later on go on to specialize . . so there was nothing wrong with what the boy said.

Now you have suceeded in making the boy feel he can never be of any good just because he is still in Nigeria and you are a been to . . that is not nice. No wonder some people still have issues with those coming from abroad - people like you still run down others who ahave not been fortunate enough to leave the country.

How nice it would have been of you to encourage the boy and then educate him . . instead of laughing at him.

We Need Total Restructuring of d 6-6-4 system, There z no point spending so much time in school with plenty theoretical leanings. Monday to Friday,lecture, Saturday & Sunday,tutorials. Last last,an average student wont even remember 10% of his or her handout after graduation. So why all dis stress?. So it gives little or no time for a student to do something to boost his or her experience, I don tire for 9ja education, Even for Benin Republic, dey spend just 2-3yrs for a degree cert.'' Am speechless''
What do u say about a company that wants fresh graduate with 10yrs working experience Wetin sef?

the guy has been away for too long a time. so, he does not know what obtains in nigeria.

@mydreamz
This is hilarious u're so funny, But u're aptly described the true plight of the average nigerian graduate, i was all cracked up when i was reading this,
this is my mail add, bufavour@gmail.com, give me a shout out, will u? i love ur sense of humour,

You assumed that there are so many educated people in Nigeria. How many people have first degree in Nigeria? How many have higher degrees? The percentage is not more than 10% if up to. Even in the so-called Western Nigeria, illiteracy level is still high. The problem is a disfunction in the economy.

@poster
ITS BECAUSE NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES STRIKE A LOTTTTTT AND BECAUSE THERE ARE NO JOBS IN NAIJA.

This is a very good question that can be extended to Africans in general. Why do Africans spend so much  time in School? In the USA, Africans  are among the most educated ie the percentage of people with a master's degree is higher in the African Community than in other communities.
But there is no fortune 500 company run by an African and the average annual income of Africans is far behind the average income in other communities. There is no African among the Forbes's magazine list of the richest people in America.  Several answers are possible base on people correct or false believes:

- The higher certificate you get in school, the bigger title you expect from the job and more money you will make;
- The higher certificate you get in school, the more secure you become because you can find a secure job in the government or in a big company;
- The higher certificate you get in school, the more respect you received in the society, "Call me Dr."
- The importance of title as  a key to open doors in Africa where promotion is based on title or seniority vs performance;
- Most Africans want to work for somebody else instead of creating and growing their own business often because of negative investment climate.
- Failure to define life mission and goals  that guide the selection of the type of education needed to reach these mission and goals;
-  Failure to ask the critical question: " Who need what I am spending time and money to study in school?"

;d

The lack innovation and creativity in our national operations.We need people with the capacity to develop programmes and structures for sustainable eduction in Nigeria. imagine that the same lesson note will examples given to you in the year 2000 will be the same the last born at home will recieve in 2015. what do you expect then?

mydreamz (f) Posts: 65 #3 on: May 28, 2010, 06:59 PM »  

An average student in nigeria finishes high school around age 16-18yrs
1.) Write waec for like 4 times before you make like five credit (note that like 3 credits can be from waec 1999 and the other two credit can be from GCE 2002)
2.) JAMB go Jam person like four times
3.) ASU go strike
4.) porter go strike
5.) cleaner too dey strike
6.) Even student too no dey carry last (who no dey strike for naija)

7.) If you be fine girl whey no gree open puss, lecturer go fail you so tey,  or if you be bobo whey dey date that guy whey the lecturer dey eye na so u go dey chop beans for exam

8.) You struggle finish school them no see you result, them use a whole year search for result before them clear you make u go serve you father land
9NYSC: Now Your Suffering continues

Now tell me how old would the guy be by them, thank God for those private Unis sha

@mydreamz
While I agree with most of your points, I disagree completely with items 1, 2, 7 & 8.

First it is a dullard that will write WAEC/JAMB 4 times.

Secondly 7 & 8: I have said it here time without number that an intelligent student cannot face any of these predicaments. Let us not also ill-advise junior & upcoming students.

A lecturer can only fail a student for not sleeping with him if d student is a dullard. It's nt possible to fail an 'A' student or bring her down to 'D' not to talk of 'F.' Please, note this.

Similarly, a lecturer will be scared to 'misplace' or lose a script to an 'A' or even 'B' student. A lecturer can only fail a borderline (D, E) student, or one that never took her studies seriously.

I hate when unserious graduates tell me such cock n bulls stories during interviews. I once met a 3rd class graduate in an interview and she told me she refused to sleep with lecturers & that landed her to a 3rd class. Nonsense!

Just for fun:

No jobs if you don't have a job

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/disturbing-job-ads-the-un_n_600665.html

And the requirements too stringent

Poster, I think you are just talking of your limited experience about what obtains here in the UK.  You cannot generalise like that.

My colleagues in health schools across UK, over 30% have a PhD, some 55%  an MSc so you can imagine how many have a BSc. I am talking of people in health schools at Oxbridge, Imperial College and University of Lodon (UCL, GKT, Queen Mary, Saint George's). That's people I know. I am one of those who left it late. But a superb (public) secondary education back home in the good old days stood me in good stead.

Things have changed here in the last decade. Certain areas are a lot more competitive and you have people who have reached the peak in other careers switching. Recent economic crisis has made many people who missed out on uni (either because of the belief that you don't need uni or didn't make the grade back then), to return to uni.
Germany is another country with a lot of mature undergrads. We all know that they are one of the most advanced countries. It is quite common for civil servants there to have several degrees.

Many of those people applying for 1st job at 28 in Nigeria only just managed to go to uni through sheer determination.  Many would have liked to graduate at 21 if they had been taken to London. Let those with opportunity realise that not every has it.
My niece graduated in Naija at the age of 19. She now works for an insurance company. Her parents were able to afford sending her to uni a year before she was due to finish secondary.

A program on TV 3 years ago in the UK showed that Nigerians, the French followed by Indians spend the longest time at Uni. Because they they do longer and more degrees. It is widely seen as an achievement.

In the future these well-trained Nigerians both at home and abroad will turn out to be the only true resource Nigeria actually has. Forget about oil that will dry up or become irrelevant one day when the West get a cheap enough alternative. Even the theory-trained people at home will be easier to teach practical if things fall in place.

@marabout:

well said, well said.

marabout:

Poster, I think you are just talking of your limited experience about what obtains here in the UK.  You cannot generalise like that.

My colleagues in health schools across UK, over 30% have a PhD, some 55%  an MSc so you can imagine how many have a BSc. I am talking of people in health schools at Oxbridge, Imperial College and University of Lodon (UCL, GKT, Queen Mary, Saint George's).

Things have changed here in the last decade. Certain areas are a lot more competitive and you have people who have reached the peak in othere careers switching. Recent economic crisis has made many people here in UK who missed out on uni (either because of the belief that you don't need to or didn't make the grade back then), has made them to return to uni.

A program on TV 3 years ago in the UK showed that Nigerians, the French followed by Indians spend the longest time at Uni in the UK. Because they they do longer and more degrees. It is widely seen as an achievement.

At the end, these well-trained nigerians both at home and abroad will turn out to be the only true resource Nigeria actually has. Forget about oil that will dry up or become irrelevant one day when the West a cheap enough alternative. Even the theory-trained people at home will be easier to teach practical if things fall in place.

Good point!! That is exactly the message i tried to pass accross to the poster. He jst gave us one example of his fren out of many. He did not even consider the possible negative effect of a nation where it's citizens chose to go for working expirience more than acquiring a professional skills.

princekevo:

Good point!! That is exactly the message i tried to pass accross to the poster. He jst gave us one example of his fren out of many. He did not even consider the possible negative effect of a nation where it's citizens chose to go for working expirience more than acquiring a professional skills.

Nigeria is developing country it will take decades to reach that point you have described,developing countries need to create ideas,innovate ideas .You are still painting the picture of certificates to us.India is a country with 1billion people,The educational sysytem there is better than that of nigeria.They have a sytem that encourages skill.student go to school for just 3 hrs because of the population ,they have 3 batches of students.what they learn in 3hrs is not what the Nigeria secondary student that left at 8 and closses at 2 will learn.even with all the certificates in Nigeria,foreigners dominate everywhere, Oil,telecoms,even An home grown company dangote is powered by indians.

olas2u:

Nigeria is developing country it will take decades to reach that point you have described,developing countries need to create ideas,innovate ideas .You are still painting the picture of certificates to us.India is a country with 1billion people,The educational system there is better than that of Nigeria.They have a stem that encourages skill.student go to school for just 3 hrs because of the population ,they have 3 batches of students.what they learn in 3hrs is not what the Nigeria secondary student that left at 8 and closes at 2 will learn.even with all the certificates in Nigeria,foreigners dominate everywhere, Oil,telecoms,even An home grown company dangote is powered by indians.

So are we to blame the people for the Nigerian system of education? Are we to discourage them not to go for certificates, being what Nigerian employer's value most? Are we to dismiss the importance of acquiring certain level of professional skills before working, jst becoz Nigerian Education is flawed?