Nigerian Graduates Unfit for Employment, say Industry Chiefs

Via Guardian Newspaper [Link Expired]  (July 26, 2005):

The employers say that the performance of the graduates in recent years has been abysmal.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Keith Richards, confirmed the development in an interview with The Guardian recently.

He is joined by several others including the Managing Director and Chief Executive of UAC Nigeria Plc, Mr. Ayo Ajayi; as well as the Chief Executive of First Bank Plc, Mr. Jacob Moyo Ajekigbe.

Academics and researchers have also agreed with the submissions of the industry chiefs, highlighting the different factors responsible for the worrisome trend.

What say ye - recent Nigerian Graduates?
Who is to blame?
What are the remedies?

1. To a large extent, it's true coz of the half baked graduate our high institutions pour out yearly. But that doesn't mean that it's all correct.

2. Personally, I don't believe in throwing blames but if I should point out some of the causes then I would say it's caused by:-
(i) The govt's insensitivity to education.
(ii) The present economy, which is really demanding.
(iii) Many lazy undergraduates pay their way thru sch. if you know what I mean and at the end of it all they come out with great result that they can't defend.

3. The remedies of the aforementioned it's simply their opposites.

Peaz out!

I would like to say that the Nigerian government allocates 100's of millions yearly to Nigerian Universities. The question is where does the money go? Does it reaches the University? Or it stays within the borders of Abuja?

So Investing into the education system isnt really the problem.

@kazey, i hope you should be able to see what am talking about now.

The issue is not about govt. now funding these universities, it's about peoples mentality about education, youngsters here think education is all about certificate. They believe a certifcate is their passport to a good job, now the table has turned, the jobs are no longer there.

Until we can all come to thinking about what we need and not what we want the whole thing will countinue to get worse.

My believe is this, education is not about certificate, it's about what you know.

The current FRCN director said one thing which is very interesting to me, he said that since his father can't afford to send him to school, he said he asked himself one day that which school did the first educated man go to? None was the answer. He said since that day he decided to study on his own, he made good grades in his external exam and today he has succeeded in resurrecting the moribund Radio Nigeria.

Nigerian students need a general overhaul in their perspective about what education is, education is not about the "paper"(certificate).

Hum, well said, but still what would happen to guys like me who are just after the "Kpali"?? I wonder.

kazey:

Hum, well said, but still what would happen to guys like me who are just after the "Kpali"?? I wonder.

@kazey, well kpali is good when you know what that kpali certifies.

'kpali' (paper degree) certifies that you are able to work under harsh and unfair conditions for years on end. Your ability to get a degree in a Nigerian university, whether you actually learnt anything of value or not, is a good measure of your ability to tolerate employment in a Nigerian workplace!

Seun:

'kpali' (paper degree) certifies that you are able to work under harsh and unfair conditions for years on end. Your ability to get a degree in a Nigerian university, whether you actually learnt anything of value or not, is a good measure of your ability to tolerate employment in a Nigerian workplace!

HAHAHAHA i can stop laughing. Man you are dem funny. hehehe. Certified Suffer heads.

Can you imagine the cheek of it..

Na everyone go school overseas?.. 

If we could all just stroll overseas, why then have schools  in Nigeria?..
I wonder how much these "companies" contribute to Nigerian Universities.. or if the bulk of their staff schooled overseas...

Pshaw....

Your ability to get a degree in a Nigerian university, whether you actually learnt anything of value or not, is a good measure of your ability to tolerate employment in a Nigerian workplace!

@seun, what i mean by certify is that you should be able to perform creditably well in a field/career that that certificate is saying you have study.

if we talk about the hardship graduates went through that's not a criteria for getting a degree, how about some that went through all that and go home with nothing, and how about those that buy "(whichever means)" their way all through.

I didn't finish the story of my friend earlier because I thought it wasn't necessary but becoz some feel getting the "kpali" would get them what they want maybe I should add this.
My friend told me that there was this guy in his school who was fund of "seeing or settling" his lectures. He did this till he graduated and guess what he graduated with? A 2'1. Those who knew him where never envious of him. B4 the end of his youth service, a company seeing his great grade, called him for an interview. You know what he did? He ran to this my friend who graduated with a 3rd class to coach him on some things in Electrical/Electronics b4 the day of interview.
My friend of course laughed at him and asked where he should start from?
Engineers in da house, can you imagine that?

It's not always about the "kpali" my guys. You got to have something upstairs.

Maybe you should ask, those that just want the Kpali, what they plan to do after they graduate. That would be more proper. If i am not a guy that looks forward to using my degree to work, why would i go through all the hassles, of trying to get the best of the best, when i know well that that area is not my area of passion?

kazey:

... why would i go through all the hassles, of trying to get the best of the best, when i know well that that area is not my area of passion?

Kazey: So, why are you pursing what you do not want? Parental pressure perhaps...What is your passion?

hehehe. No man, I love information technology, but the idea of University education is hard to whole heartedly embrace with passion. And by the way my grades are really good currently.

What I really wished i was studying?. Hum? Something more of the management line, Finance? Business Administration etc.

My parents don't have a say on what i study in the university. Just that its too late to be thinking of changing, I already changed once. From Telecommunication Engineering to Information Systems.And saying i want to change again is not really a good idea.

Yeah, just get your "kpali" in the shortest time possible and then you can start developing yourself in business management the way every entrepreneur does it - the school of hard knocks, trial and error, mistakes, analysis and correction!

The real problem with the quality of our graduates is not the students, but the educational system which empasises only reading and writing without much challenge on creativity and inventiveness. I was looking at my former university website a few days back and they were still running the same courses (title and descriptions) I did 15 years ago. The curriculum has not been updated in 15 years. Why?.....do we really have lecturers? (most lecturers and teachers are there by accident, after repeated failures to get other jobs or "ja" for good). Its a system in absolute decay that needs serious overhauling. You can only get maggots from rotten meat. Enough blame on the students. If the system is good (this doesnt have to do with economy, for goodness sake - Curriculum needs overhauling max every 5 years....its a basic requirement), the graduates wont be soo bad...

That is why HND HOLDERS are been forced out of job.
They say"HND holders are better but the certificates are inferior to Bsc"
NOW

"Nigerian Graduates Unfit for Employment?" Then

The NIGERIAN EDUCATION system must be sick.

iv been saying it and i'll keep saying it
Nigeria has a problem that i doubt can be solved
the system of evrything is messed up
well we that are still looking for admission into UNI
still have a long way to go

hi buddies out there am in support of many dedicated nigerians that could not afford education in private institutions and outside the shores of the land.not all are unfit confirm and make research before u conclude as u know or should i say its not a statement of fact

What I want to know is if we still have Universities in Nigeria. If we do, how many can really be called Universities?

I can't say much about the new Priv. Uniz we have now but majority of the Univerisities we have now are scraps!

Imagine studying an engineering course and never been inside a LAB! What will you be able to defend if you come out of the system?

I still pity those who rely solely on the worthless pali they acquire from the University. The future is really BLEAK for those who can't see beyond that paper.

God go helep us all sha.

Anyway this is my first post on this forum!

Bola

Am an electronics engineering student and i think i can fairly well defend what ive been taught in lecture rooms and labs. The most important thing is self development which is what am embarking on now.

Good for you my guy. I'm sure you went to a nice school.

Our concern is the majority sha that pay their way to get the palis and couldn't defend it.

bolaoni:

What I want to know is if we still have Universities in Nigeria. If we do, how many can really be called Universities?

I can't say much about the new Priv. Uniz we have now but majority of the Univerisities we have now are scraps!

Imagine studying an engineering course and never been inside a LAB! What will you be able to defend if you come out of the system?

I still pity those who rely solely on the worthless pali they acquire from the University. The future is really BLEAK for those who can't see beyond that paper.

God go helep us all sha.

Anyway this is my first post on this forum!

Bola

such graduates they are referring to are definitely fro OSU, Ijebu Igbo and LASU

How can i naija student be fit for employment when he can't even use a computer. He cant use basic software applications such as Microsoft Excel and they can't even type proficiently (if they press A, it would take them a long time to find B on the same keyboard) talkless of using Microsoft Word. They are not even fit for the technical or science field when they can even use C++ or even JAVA.

davidif:

How can i naija student be fit for employment when he can't even use a computer. He can't use basic software applications such as Microsoft Excel and they can't even type proficiently (i[b]f they press A, it would take them a long time to find B on the same keyboard[/b]) talkless of using Microsoft Word. They are not even fit for the technical or science field when they can even use C++ or even JAVA.

LMAO!!!! true that!! i know of one . . . whose grammatical construction is so terribly bad!! and hes a graduate and i have witnessed where he was sending a message to his friend and he was like. . . . *pls where is the I button* i wanted to stick my finger into his big ass eyeball

fellow nigerian students we shudnt deceive ourselves dis shiit's very true. way out though is to try develop n rebrand urself else, oyo lo wa o. naija universities re crap, our lecturers r damn, let me not talk

kazey:

I would like to say that the Nigerian government allocates 100's of millions yearly to Nigerian Universities. The question is where does the money go? Does it reaches the University? Or it stays within the borders of Abuja?

So Investing into the education system isnt really the problem.

the truth is that the Nigerian government on its part is outrightly insentituve to the lots of young Nigerian. Having said that, I must be quick to argue that the annual allocation to the Education sector is incredibly small. How can you allocate a pantry 9% to education for a whole fiscal year? Do you know that President Obama allocated 50% of that Stimulus Package to educational funding alone?

I dont think these thieving politicians understand how important education is to the future of a people