SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA

July 2008, I began a six months Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), popularly called Industrial Training at the Centre for Energy Research and Development (CERD), -a centre of excellence in nuclear energy research in Nigeria, managed by the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority- located in the premises of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. As undergraduates, my colleagues and I had limited access to some equipment in CERD because they were very expensive. We were only permitted to operate a few machines -the less expensive ones- under supervision. One of the most important facility CERD has is the 1.7Mev Tandem Accelerator (a sophisticated facility used in nuclear energy research which was commissioned by the former Minister of Science and Technology in 2008). As at 2008, the 1.7Mev Tandem Accelerator costs over one million US Dollars, as there were only two in sub-Saharan Africa, i.e. one in Nigeria and the other in South Africa.

One of the officials -a professor- of CERD went to Durham University, UK, for further training on the use of the 1.7 Mev Tandem Accelerator. On his resumption to office, he held a seminar on the knowledge he had gained by demonstrating them on power-point slides. Towards the end of his presentation, he showed us a picture of three people; himself, his instructor and a young lady. He said ''the young lady is an undergraduate of chemistry department of Durham University, who had just concluded the same three months training on the use of the facility with me''. He also said that ''the 1.7Mev Tandem Accelerator is located in the Chemistry Department of Durham University, so students could train with the facility''.
The seminar generated a great deal of turbulence in my brain. I asked myself, can you imagine a UK undergraduate undergoing the same kind of training with a Nigerian professor? Great and small facilities are located in academic departments in universities of developed countries so that students can acquire adequate practical experiences, but not so in Nigeria, as the few ones available are only meant for business purposes in government research institutes. So I compared what the quantum of impact the Durham University undergraduate (as well as her classmates) would add to the economy of her country when she eventually graduates, with what a graduate of Nigerian tertiary institution adds to the economy of Nigeria. To be factual, the seminar was an eye opener to the problem of unemployment in Nigeria.

Moreover, when considering the extent of self-sufficiency Nigeria has in her medical field, it must be noted that Nigeria keeps doing a great job in the training of qualified doctors, nurses and pharmacists. In my opinion, the medical sector -a highly skilled sector- in Nigeria is the best sector we have in the economy, because we do not have expatriates managing their field (when compared to the engineering and other skilled sectors). As terrible as the Nigerian unemployment situation is, you don't easily come across unemployed medical doctors. In addition, a medical doctor in Nigeria can practice anywhere in the world with little or no further training, as this is not obtainable in other fields such as engineering, science and agriculture, just to mention a few.
The self-sufficiency Nigeria has in her medical sector is simply due to 'training' and 'institutionalisation' of that noble profession. What I mean by training is this. A medical student gains a university admission, learns basic sciences in the first year, begins rigorous practical training in second year. In the fourth year, he continues training in the teaching hospital section of his medical school and must be able to attend to medical cases, as this is an important condition for graduation in his sixth year. The fresh graduate doctor goes into the labour market with requisite skills as he properly attends to real life situations as a result of the adequate training he has got.

Talking about institutionalisation, I mean, medical students are specially trained (beyond the classroom settings) in specially designed hospitals called teaching hospitals, in order to give them practical training. A medical student combines his lectures with real life hospital experiences, so he doesn't need to go for SIWES or Industrial Training like I (and other engineering students) did. So I keep asking two questions. Firstly, what would be the quality of a fresh graduate doctor if almost all the trainings were mere classroom training? I mean a training lacking the teaching hospital experience, but replaced with a six month medical/industrial training (a medical training in any kind of hospital/clinic/health centre). Secondly, what would be the quality of a Nigerian graduate engineer and scientist, if given adequate training (both theoretical and practical experiences)? Without mincing words, I believe we can see a major reason why most Nigerian graduates cannot create jobs as well as why they are unemployable.

My heart bleeds each time I read about governments' effort at solving the problem of unemployment because they mostly end in a vicious cycle. The government keeps spending huge sums on globetrotting in the name of seeking Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), instead of investing those amount into capacity building of young ones. I have always believed we can develop adequate local investment capabilities and stop chasing the shadows of FDI, then put an end to the ''intellectual incapacitation and encapsulation'', as if those who invested in Europe and America came from other planets. The Asian Tigers have shown us that ''charity begins at home''. India, a nation that got her independence, just thirteen years before Nigeria, is no march for Nigeria when it comes to the development of her local capabilities. Today, Nigeria makes use of banking software developed in India as well as motorcycles and tricycles made by them. Moreover, India has taken over the Nigerian steel industry. When you get to an Indian managed steel industry in Nigeria, you will discover that virtually all the machines and tools in that industry are made from Indian technology. In addition, the Indians have been contracted to build a new petroleum refinery by Dangote. This is possible because they were able to ''domesticate'' foreign technology. Hum, what a lofty practice to emulate!

The hullabaloo given undue attention since 1986, when the Structural Adjustment Program, commenced is called ''entrepreneurship and vocational education''. What a ''fools gold''! Imagine a typical Nigerian graduate of agriculture, who has adequate classroom experience, but lacks complementary practical experience, is being told to start a business after school. He would prefer starting a car wash business to practicing agriculture because he lacks the capacity and technical knowledge of how to properly run a farm. Today, Nigeria has thousands of agriculture graduates who are unable to practice commercial agriculture, but unfortunately, we have left the job of food production to the peasant farmers and untrained nomads. We can all see the effect of the neglect, it is massive food importation.
It is only an insane man who will keep doing the same thing the same way and expect a different result. There is no developed nation that will substitute vocational education for qualitative education especially at the tertiary level. If vocational and entrepreneurship education were to be right key to economic prosperity, what medical students need would be just a combination of classroom lectures and vocational education. However, this would look so absurd, but this is the absurdity we have been subjecting other set of professionals to, when they are being denied adequate practical experiences, as the practical classes are being replaced with vocational and entrepreneurship studies. I am not totally against entrepreneurship education, but my opinion is that adequate training should be provided in our higher institutions, while entrepreneurship education can accompany as an addition.
In addition, entrepreneurship and vocational education has been found only to be effective in nations where science and technology education flourishes. South Korea and Singapore invested billions of dollars on education and engineering, so they have capable people in research to spur creative thinking for production of goods and services which culminates to entrepreneurial activities. Am still trying to find out the nations Nigeria copied the policy of entrepreneurship from, one which neglects massive investment in science and technology education, but preaches stack entrepreneurship education alone.

At this juncture, I must be lucid enough to say that I am not a destructive critic, but a constructive one. I believe I can help proffer some pragmatic and proactive solutions to the protracted problem of unemployment.

Firstly, there are identified private organisations that have got massive investments in education, health, media and other socio- activities. They can equally be harnessed for job creation, especially in the agricultural sector. They are potentials waiting to be tapped for further exploits. I am confident that if these organisations are properly harnessed, they are capable of providing investments worth over 100 billion naira in the agricultural sector over the next ten years. The major challenge is how to sensitize them so that they can do more in the economy.

Secondly, I believe in the adequate training of undergraduates, I mean a training that will ensure adequate knowledge in both theory and practical. This means that the government must ensure provision of adequate modern equipment in all tertiary institutions. I believe in the institutionalisation of every course of study in every tertiary institution in Nigeria, a system that will operate like the teaching hospitals of medical students. In fact, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Engineering students should have state of the art facilities in the recommended ''engineering villages'' in order to replace the empty laboratories and workshops, while science students should have something similar. We need ''centres of innovation'', not just ''centres of operation and maintenance''. We need ''Nigerian technologies'' not just ''made in Nigeria products''. I do not subscribe to the Nigerian method of gaining practical experiences in which Industrial Training is meant to provide, because we have seen that medical students have adequate expertise as a result of the training they received in their specialized institutions. Institutionalisation is working in the medical field, it will work in other fields. The major goal to be achieved is self-sufficiency in every field in terms of qualified personnel, job creation and standard products.

Thirdly, undergraduates studying agricultural courses should be empowered (both with finance and modern implements) to own farms before they graduate. We should abhor the the practice of ''crash programs'', when there are professionals who can perform in those fields. For example, you'll hear something like ''a three day seminar on fish production''. A rhetorical question that comes to my heart is, why are we wasting resources on such a crash program when we have thousands of agriculture and fish production graduates in Nigeria? Billions of naira was spent on Millennium Development Goals, especially goal number one, as well as the National Youth Service Corps agriculture scheme, with little or nothing to show for the amount spent. The government must realise that youths corpers cannot be forced into farming. It is high time we empowered and utilized the right people for the right job.

Lastly, it is so easy to attract FDI when favorable conditions are put in place for investors. It is a pity to note that some Nigerian companies e.g. Dunlop Ltd, relocated their factories to Ghana as a result of a better manufacturing environment available in that country. Nigeria doesn't need to beg for investments, what Nigeria needs is to put in place are adequate infrastructures, such as good transportation system, efficient power supply as well as incentives for prospective investors. When the right business environment is achieved, FDI will automatically flow into our nation and there will be abundant job opportunities.

oneolajire2000@yahoo.co.uk

Nice writeup op, thats true the nigerian system is messed up the government does not understand that the key to a nations development is promotion,development and investments in science and technology even the bodies responsible for the regulation of engineering and technology(NSE and COREN) in nigeria do not even know what their duties are, all they are interested in is the yearly subscription money from members and collecting bribes for accreditation from substandard universities that should not be licensed to practise engineering, politics has ruined this nation the top officials (minister of power, science, e.t.c) responsible do not even know what their duties are nor the importance of technology in the development of a nation most of them are not even qualified for their respective positions.
im a corper and i studied engineering, currently am building a bomb disposal robot but at times when i remember im in nigeria i get discouraged and immediately feel like canceling this project, because i know at the end of it all it won't be recognised nor supported and i would have ended up wasting my funds,time and money.

Innovation and technological initiatives should be promoted at all levels that is from the secondary to univerisity level, when i say innovation and technological initiatives i mean things like seminars on real and modern technology being used , hands on science and tech workshops training in the universities by foreign experts,maker faires (u can google this if u don't know what it means), local science invention competitions between secondary schools with moderately large financial awards and also in the universities, this is what other advanced countries like the US do thats why they are leading in science and tech.

God bless Nigeria