The education minister, Ruqayyatu Ahmed-Rufai, has urged fresh graduates not to depend on white collar jobs after leaving school, saying government alone could not meet the challenges of unemployment in the country.

Mrs. Ahmed-Rufai, who gave the advice at the weekend at the 31st convocation ceremony of the Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, said few vacancies that existed in the civil service could not meet the demands of thousands of fresh graduates searching for gainful employment.

She, therefore, charged them to embrace entrepreneurial skills and develop initiatives for self-employment generation, noting that no nation can develop without adequately investing in human capital development.

Represented by the permanent secretary in the federal ministry of education, Oladapo Afolabi, the minister said the education sector was presently being repositioned to enable it play the very important role of providing the much-needed human capital to transform the country to a better place to live.

“The Federal Ministry of Education has taken various steps to transform the sector. One of such steps is the unveiling of the Road Map for the sector in March, 2009,” he said.

“The aim of the Road Map is to provide the much needed qualitative education and to address the four cardinal points of Access and Equity; Standards and Quality; Standards and Quality Assurance; Technical and Vocational Education; Training, as well as Funding and Resource Utilization.”

Upgrade the school

The chairman, governing council of the institution, Grace Ekong, lauded the ministry for its recent move to upgrade the college to a university status. She urged the Federal Executive Council to approve the proposal to elevate some federal colleges of education in the country to degree awarding universities, stressing that efforts had been made in the past towards upgrading the college to an autonomous degree awarding university of education.

“We will still work towards attaining the status. Adeyemi College of Education, no doubt, has on ground, facilities suitable for a university of education and it is already producing degree graduates,” she said.

About 6, 669 students of the institution will be presented with degree certificates, while 4, 068 will have their Nigeria Certificate of Education.

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This is the most foolish thing that public officers tell us - that Graduates should seek sef employment. Even after years of looting our treasury, our politicians and their children do not seek self employment rather they will kill to get government employment. This same guys will turn around to tell poor half baked graduates (worn out from different strikes) to seek self employment. Meanwhile no developed country and I stand to be corrected tells that to its youths even though it is encouraged. Why does America, Britian etc track unemployment. they should just tell them to seek self employment. It's government's business to provide conducive environment for job creation. Should our numerous Doctors, Engineers seek self employment while the Chineses, Polish and co take over jobs. It's even sadder that Government is not doing anything about vocational training, very soon we won't have artisans again, all Nigerian youths will be capable of doing is ride Okadas