JUNIOR achievement (JA) Nigeria, a non-profit economic education organisation, recently held its second 2021 Stakeholder Engagement Session with the theme ‘Work readiness’. The essence of the session was to share its success stories and reiterate its commitment to its partners and the public on the work it has been doing in providing leadership and business education to young Nigerians.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Foluso Gbadamosi, stated that the first half of 2021 was huge because of the growth they recorded, their success in reaching over 50,000 youths across the country, some partners and team members that have joined their organisation, among others.
“It has been a very busy and successful first half,” Gbadamosi said. “We are extremely grateful to you because we cannot have made this impact without you. You have helped over 50,000 students discover their abilities, and you have also put them on the path towards discovering their full potentials.”
Zakari Momodu of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, and also a board member of the organisation, spoke about the 2021 strategic mission of JA Nigeria. He stated that having accomplished the first one million reach last year—since the inception of the organisation in 1999—their next task is to target another one million over the next five years.
“As we switch over to a more digital-driven, back-form approach and methodology, we believe we should be able to achieve this record with all your supports in a less time than the proposed target,” Momodu said. “We are positive now, more than ever.”
The panellists for the ‘Work readiness and entrepreneurial’ session—which was moderated by Malebo Mohubo of Oliver Wyman and Jeff Youssef, also of Oliver Wyman—were: Adekemi Akinyede of Parthian Partners; Dr Henrietta Onwuegbuzie of Lagos Business School; Kemi Ogunleye of Union Bank; Nelson Wilbert of Schlumberger; Rufai Ladipo of Agile Communications; and Zakari Momodu.
Mohubo started the panel discussion with a PowerPoint presentation on two youths-and-employers surveys carried out by her firm to get perspectives on young people and employers on the labour markets of thirteen countries that are part of the Junior Achievement programmes. The surveys addressed four main aspects of the labour market, which are: sectorial opportunities and challenges; qualifying the skills gap; bridging the gap; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market.
Mahubo stated that digital and behavioural skills are not the widest skills gap that employers see in young people, but that “there are other skills that young people find challenging to acquire, and this could contribute to them not being able to enter the market effectively.”
On the situation of the current workforce, in terms of lack of experience and unavailability of job vacancies, Akinyede stated that these days the quality of employees are not in par with the job they are required to do. She noted that this dismal situation is not enough, that employers need to do their best to address these problems.
Ogunleye noted that in the banking sector they experience the same skills-gap challenges and that the workforce has changes significantly over the last decade in terms of the kind of skills employers are looking for. She lamented that the focus has shifted from looking for technical skills—which they still look out for—to soft skills and candidates who are employable, creative, agile and teachable.
“There are gaps between what employers are looking for and what they find in the workforce,” she frowned. “There is a significant mismatch, which contributes to youth unemployment rate.”
After explaining the roles her bank is playing to solve some of these challenges, through a management programme her bank started some years ago, she added that their findings show that “young people and the workforce are intelligent, and able to catch up quickly once they are exposed to learning.”
Onwuegbuzie reacted to how the current workforce situation can be improved. She stated that schools are turning out graduates than the available employment vacancies, and that different industries are complaining that most graduates are not job ready. She stressed that job creators should be encouraged more than job seekers, but that the school curriculum is turning out misaligned job seekers. She opined that this means employers need to either have academies or go to these institutions that these people came from and collaborate with them to prepare their students for these positions.
When Youssef asked what is practically required from employers to make sure they get what they want from education institutions, Onwuegbuzie reiterated that it is the willingness of the employers, especially the ones that can afford it, to endow chairs in these institutions.
She expressed dissatisfaction that there is only three months internship for students, which is not enough, and recommended at least a one-year internship programme. She stressed that the more hands-on practical experience students get along with classroom learning, the more job-ready they would be when they graduate.
“There is very little collaboration between the industry and he academia in Nigeria,” Onwuegbuzie lamented, “and these collaborations need to start happening to get people job-ready and make them more aware of the gaps in the market so that they can be able to come up with solutions.”
Momodu, while reacting to the question ‘What does your organisation do to support youth entering the workplace’, noted that this is what they have been working on for years at the Aliko Dangote Foundation. He spoke about the Dangote Academy, established ten years ago, and it is tackling job-readiness challenges by locally training mid- to lower-level management staff with technical expertise.
He further noted that the issue is less about education for jobs and more about self-reliance, independent and job creation. He stated that this is where JA Nigeria is very instrumental, and that there needs to be more holistic, systematic adjustment of the curriculum to make it a thing of purpose.
“A focus on life skills, entrepreneurship, creative and vocational capacities are very important,” Momodu emphasised. “Part of the problem is that even that which we have already created is not competitive. So, there is also a problem of standard.”
On what could be done to increase the number of people, especially graduates, who can get professional training on entrepreneurial and creative skills, Wilbert lamented that one of the challenges in sub-Saharan Africa is that the average child cannot be trained, and that most people just go to school to gain some literacy, but it does not prepare them to think outside of the box.
He stated that the grassroots is where the nurturing of the excitement to learn should begin. He added that most people cannot predict the job requirements in twenty years, but that young people can be helped to be self-creative by increasing the volunteer workforce and spending more time with them in schools or in the informal sector to give them some focus or experience.
After speaking about some Schlumberger programmes—such as the Excellence in Education, Ambassador Universities, and Faculty of the Future programmes—that are helping address work-readiness challenges, he emphasised that “the main thing is to help the child to dream, and this is how they can be aware of the challenges and bring solutions to them. Let them know they can make a difference. Then, the tools can come later.”
Ladipo, while continuing from Wilbert stopped, expressed worries over the lack of multi-disciplinary focus of Nigerian education curriculum. While speaking about their Advertising Academy programme, he noted that one can be a chemical engineer and still work in the creative environment. He stated that in his marketing and advertising line of business, they have lawyers coming to learn their trade because they have interest in what they do.
“In our own area, we try to see how well people of diverse educational backgrounds can be absorbed. You do not really need to have a degree in advertising for you to be in advertising. You can be a lawyer and still be a good copywriter,” Ladipo said. “We try as much as possible to broaden their minds.”
According to Onwuegbuzie, one of the ways these challengers can be addressed is through role modelling. She stressed that people should know every problem represents a potential profitable opportunity. She further stressed that people who are more self-reliance need to be developed at the end of their education, and that money is not what makes a business to survive but training.
On how the academia can make the curriculum more robust, she stated that this can be done in three terms: the head, the heart, and the hands—the head for IQ, the heart for emotional intelligence, and the hands for practical work. She opined that if these three things are covered, people will be better ready for the world.
“The academia has a lot to do with this. I agree that the world is not only about graduates,” Onwuegbuzie said. “But even in vocational training, you still need to help people understand financial management, leadership, and other things they need to do well. They will still need etiquette and emotional intelligence to keep their customers, and to do a great job.”
On how the findings of the work-readiness programme assessment can resonate with both job seekers and employers, Gbadamosi addressed the question from JA Nigeria perspective. She spoke about the organisation’s ventures management programme for university graduates undergoing their national service, and how the programme is shaping their lives.
“We need more partners to be able to organise more programmes. We organise programmes for out-of-school and in-school youths,” Gbadamosi said. “We do not only focus on those that have degrees because we understand the complexity of the environment that we live in. We should focus more on creative thinking. It takes people a long way.”
Akinyede, whose organisation partners with JA Nigeria on the ventures management programmes, while buttressing the points Gbadamosi raised, emphasised that they are interested in teaching both young people and youths soft skills they are not being taught in schools, but which they need to succeed in the workplace.
About how the success of the programme is measured, and how it is beneficial to those who had participated in it as against those who have not, Akinyede said, “It is about the ability to fit or adapt well into expected roles in the workforce.”
Adeola Olumeyan of Channels Television, while delivering the closing remarks, stated that the panel discussion was insightful. While expressing satisfaction in the surveys conducted by Oliver Wyman, she stated that sixty per cent of employers believe that internships provide best preparations for the workplace.
While calling for more support for the work the organisation is doing, she stated that technology underpins JA Nigeria’s core strategy, adding that, “I am convinced that JA Nigeria is best posed to deliver the skills required to develop youths that can compete globally.”
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