By Chidinma Okeke


Tens of thousands of Nigerian students may spend extra year in specialized institutions after graduation to make them employable.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, put forward the proposal at the ongoing Retreat for Governing Councils of Nigerian Federal Universities, organized by the National Universities Commission (NUC) with the theme, “Elements of Statutory Governance, Procurement and Financial Accounting in Nigerian Universities.”


He said the suggestion was being made because many university graduates were not good enough to be employed by industries.
“Law students attend Law School for one year before going for NYSC and medical students go for one year Houseman ship before they are allowed to practice fully, so it will be necessary for other courses to also go through this process,” Mr Anwukah said.
“The Lagos Business School can also serve as a one year after-school training,” he added.
“The universities are producing products that are not matching the needs of the industries. I urged the Committee of Pro-chancellors and Committee of Vice-Chancellor to end the decline in the standard of education,” he said.


“The SIWES projects introduced for a year industrial attachment for students has failed in the universities. It is not doing its role in bridging the gap between the universities and the industries,” he said.
He said that re-schooling would serve as a training ground for graduates to be well equipped on the rudiments of the course studied.
In his address, the Chairman of NUC board, Prof. Ayo Banjo, said the quality of Nigerian universities product failed due to poor quality research, saying, a graduate who cannot think properly is unworthy of the certification.


While calling for adequate funding to enable the universities fulfil its mandate, he said the presence of government subventions must be felt and visible in the Nigerian universities to meet and achieve excellence.
Prof Banjo, however urged the Nigerian varsities to open their doors to West African students to help them boost their revenue and also consider additional reform of the curriculum to help produce excellent graduates.


The Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed said the fundamental problems facing the university system are poor leadership, general underperformance and inadequate teaching and learning environment.
He said the consequence of poor leadership had undermined the capacity of universities in achieving its mandate.
According to him, the NUC in collaboration with CPC and CVC decided to organise the retreat for the governing council of all 42 federal universities to provide solutions to the problems confronting the universities system.
He therefore urged participants to remain focus in the deliberations and better equip themselves with proper leadership to move the universities forward.


We’re trying to sell an idea - Prof Anwukah
Contacted by Daily Trust to throw more light on the proposal, the minister said: “We are trying to sell an idea, the proposal is to get into our university system the re-schooling concept, that is you finish your university degree may be add one more year as a finishing school project, I don’t know how it is going to sell ... but the idea has come as a result of the failure of SIWES system in the universities.


“We try to address the relationship between the universities, the industries and the graduates, how they can fit in and we introduced the SIWES project and it is not working and it is not providing that bridge between the industries because the most industries are unwilling to accept most students on the SIWES programme.


“We want to brainstorm and see whether we can add one additional year so that when a student finishes from the university he can now go out to industries for one year internship for that job. For instance, the law department had one extra year after the law programme they go to law school, doctors go for one additional year.


“Are we going to continue with the SIWESS experiment which is not working or we are going to brace up to introduce an additional year of re-school whereby you spend that one year in any industry.
For instance, the Lagos Business School can serve as one year learning experience for students in business, accountancy and others, the NTA school in Jos can handle that of journalists
Experts’ reaction


Professor of Developmental Education, University of Abuja, Prof Salisu Ingawa said that is not the solution and it may never work.
“Who is going to do it, it is capital intensive, how long will it take to come to practice? So all these graduates will be waiting till such institutions are set so that they can get employed,” he said.
He pointed out that the proposed Technology Village which has not been developed should have been able to address such challenge.


“That is why the industries are crying out that graduates of Nigeria are of no value to them because when they employ them they have to retrain them at a very high cost.
He noted that the synergy between the producers of manpower and the end users is not there, saying, “even if they send them for that one year, who will make the input of the content of what these graduates will be doing in the institutions or whatever he calls it, and who is going to pay for the services there, is it the employer?”
According to him, over 50 per cent of the graduates are employed by the public sector, adding that it.


“It should be the smallest sector, ie the private sector is the largest employer but in Nigeria the private sector is narrowing by the day because the ease of doing business in Nigeria is very difficult.”
He however said the immediate solution is partnership with the industries which is the end user.
He called for review of curriculum of universities because knowledge is dynamic and changing by seconds.


A professor of communication at Bayero University Kano, (BUK) Prof Umaru Pate said it might be difficult but that, it is ideal but the implementation is going to be problematic.
Prof Pate said the industries to absolve the graduate when they come may not be readily available and that could mean that the candidates would have to line up for them to be absolved.


He said: “The availability of the supervisors to be taken to the industries is yet another issue and who will pay for their participation in the system because right now some SIWES that some of the departments participate in are experiencing some challenges or do you expect the students to also raise the money or the government to start another NYSC, so the issue of finance is a problem."


On the solution , he said one probable way of doing it is to encourage the various departments especially those professionally inclined to strengthen their industrial attachment and that could mean separating the attachment maybe from 100 level to say 300 level to spend three months in the industry and the rest of the period in the school.
The Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Prof Nasiru Idris said the proposal is not something new.


“You may wish to know that, already Environmental courses, engineering courses, medical courses are all running five year programmes and also, all courses in the Universities of Technology in Nigeria are 5 years programmes and the reason for this is to compliment theories with practice,” he said.
“In developed countries, degree programs are 3 years and they produce the best with no even the so called industrial attachment. Furthermore, government should declare state of emergency in the education sector.” he added.


https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/amplite/minister-wants-one-year-reschooling-for-graduates.html

You must be kidding. When others are reducing the years,you are thinking of adding it.

Now I'm thoroughly convinced that Nigeria is governed by incredibly stupid people.

If this is what so called professors can come up with then I'm truly concerned for Nigeria. Everyone with half a brain ought to know that the problem of higher education in Nigeria is the issue of non functional universities as a result of poor funding and retrogressive lecturers. Instead of talking about equipping laboratories, creating tech clusters, university research park, improving knowledge transfer and pedagogy, reducing class sizes these mumu people are trying to add another useless year to an already useless four of five years.

For a university to produce industry - relevant graduates, the university itself has to be industry relevant. And that relevance can only come as a by product of heavy investment in research. You can add 20 years to the current setting and would still achieve nothing.

The irony is that these wehreys have their children in foreign countries where they complete academic curriculums in 3 years for BSc and 1 year for MSc yet more industry relevant than the ones in Nigeria spending close to 8 years achieving a BSC and MSC...

We have so many misplaced priorities in this shit hole country

See this foolish people oh

But you is this government always bent on frustrating the masses. What kind of minister is this? You are not saying anything about improving d institutions, curbing strikes, archaic lecturers, but instead u want to add to the time wasting. I wonder who advises these guys. Improve d educational sector and stop saying rubbish.

Someone that studied for 4 or 5 yrs, will extend his education for a year, please tell me what difference will it make? These people are just too dumb.

All na wash,at d end of the one year nothing will happen.

What is their business if some university graduates are not qualified?, what of the ones that are qualified? things are hard, you want parents to kill themselves cos of another one year school fees? foolish people

Our so-called leaders are not innovative at all.

My patriotic sentiment for this country is dying!... Useless leaders.

Good move

Una dey mad

Nn

Its better,extra one year to enjoy, cos after school na der you go know say you are from 9ja, struggle begins with full force

Lord! How did we get here? They had better also send out memos to all Federal institutions, banks, corporate organizations and private companies compelling them to make the age threshold for recruitment 35 years downward. It's 4 years now (minus stupid strike actions and unnecessary delays) and we are still battling the menace of age discrimination during recruitment, and we want to now add an extra year. Rapture should just happen abeg

Make dem come kill us kawai
A common 4 year course , some of us know how many years we spent before completing it
Natural occuring factors like strike and renovation took 2 years
1 year for spill over

And yet they still want to add more years?

Crazy and wicked people

Good idea

Dem dey crazy ni!!

My own university, Covenant uni protested to NUC as regards NUCs mathematics curriculum(2007) being severely outdated and then decided to go with the 'new' 2014 curriculum created by NUC. Only to be told by NUC that the 2014 curriculum was just a recommendation and that CU must revert to 2007 just as every other Nigerian uni, which is outdated. Even the so called 2014 is outdated not to talk of 2007, yet govt wants industry relevant graduates.

Many private universities have queried a situation where a Computer Science student is compelled to take Physical Chemistry in 100 level while counterparts in the UK go straight to the point... I think its high time govt allows academic freedom and let each university determine its own path and stop this nonsense of creating a central curriculum.

May a healthy dose of lightning strike the people who thought of and communicated such a stupid suggestion.

This is simplya bad idea brought by dullards!

Mehn, See fast fingers every where oooo ...... we dey compete ni



Onto the matter sha,

It is not the number of years that one spend in school that matters but the quality of education we are receiving , as far as our lecturers keep using the same old and odd notes my uncles used during their own time , the quality of our education shall be old and outdated !!!

Only graduates who developed themselves out of the box shall thus become employable but if u stick to that modules in your school, you will remain dejected !!!


Immediately after I graduated from Unilorin , I served alongside some guys from University of Manchester ..... We were all commercial/social science students. I swear to God, when these guys were recanting their experience as undergraduate students and I compared with mine, I was world apart from them. Its exactly the same as difference between UK and Nigeria

I looked at myself and said, these are the calibres of guys I would be competing with in the Job market ....,

Nobody teaches me before I enter Google and YouTube and many Professional sites as well as other professionals to retrain myself beyond whatever my school has given me !!!


So, Professor Awukah abi wetin, A Nigerian Professor with such a proposal of extra years is suffering from Buharism


What we need is more practical and entrepreneurship ...... All science/engineering students should carry out more practicals thus , their laboratory should be world class while all social science/art/humanities and management students should go out there and do internship and report their experience back to their various department from 100L-400/500L

A political science student should intern with National/State House of Assembly members as well as other politicians instead using THUGs being P.A ......

I too sabi pass Anwukah sef

When illiterates rule, the country gets dumbed down

After spending the extra year there still wouldn't be any jobs. In fact students should rather spend 3 years in school so they can get out soon enough and start figuring out what to do with their lives.

"Professor" Anwukah,I need to know those who made you a Professor because you do not deserve to hold a B.Sc. So five years at university is not enough to make one employable. You want to add another year instead of your government adding jobs? You must be insane!

nice useless one

The Four Years Money weh una deh Chop no deh Okay.... -Abi the One Year will be #Free -Looters

Sighs....

Will they perform better than graduates from countries where Bsc is only for 3 years?
Why not just focus on the important few and forget about the plenty irrelevant courses?
Isn't it stupidity that a fishery student is being taught Engineering drawing?
If you think I am lying, ask FUTA students.

Are u minding them? is that going to solve the problem of unemployed graduates?all of them are mad

Jochabed:
You must be kidding. When others are reducing the years,you are thinking of adding it.

4 years
5 years
6 years for some courses no do una na extra one year go make the students better than what the have been


What are the smoking over there in Abuja