Don challenges tertiary institutions on youth unemployment

TERTIARY institutions in Nigeria must facilitate a synergy between them and the industry in order to cater for the training needs of potential drivers of the global knowledge economy and tackle the challenge of unemployment in the country.

A construction consultant and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ibadan, Dr Wasiu Ajagbe, made this assertion in a lecture titled “Nigerian Tertiary Education and the Challenge of Unemployment: The Gown and the Town Face to Face” at the Professional Monthly Forum (PMF) of the Group of Muslim Professionals, Oyo State chapter, held on Sunday, in Ibadan.

Dr Ajagbe, who attributed the rate of youth unemployment in the country to lack of quality education and inadequate infrastructure “in our institutions of higher learning,” suggested the integration industry-based learning (IBL) or work integrated learning (WIL) models in the curricula of the nation’s tertiary institutions.

The don expressed disappointment that Nigeria’s tertiary institutions had lived below expectations as “65 per cent of Nigerian youths are unable to get employment, according to the Bureau of Statistics.”

While encouraging lecturers to ensure their course contents are digital age-updated and flavoured with industry requirements, Dr Ajagbe charged students and graduates to engage in skill-based personal development to be relevant in the global marketplace of the knowledge economy.

The chairman on the occasion, Dr Lateef Bakre of the Department of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, reiterated the need for university undergraduates, professionals and academic researchers to focus more attention on solving societal problems with new ideas and discoveries.

He said such research and professional orientation would concretise the essence of “gown-town” collaboration for training and development.

The programme was attended by professionals from all walks of life, including Dr Nafiu Musa of the Department of Quantity Surveying, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Mr Kazeem Olaoye of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Daud Oladosu of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The Polytechnic, Ibadan and a broadcaster at Inspiration FM, Ibadan, Alhaji AbdRasaaq AbdGaniyy.