Nigeria’s education system barely produces human capital for today industries —Ossai, founder of CampusLabs

Emeka is the founder of CampusLabs and a social entrepreneur focused on designing and implementing solutions that address the curriculum gaps in Nigerian higher institutions. In this interview by Kingsley Alumona, he speaks about his work, the future of Nigerian tertiary education, and how the government can help.

What kind of life/future do you see for Nigerian students under the current government?

The current educational system could barely produce the human capital required for the industrial era, how much more now that we are in the web 3.0 era? (metaverse, blockchain, etc). The good news is that knowledge has been democratised through the internet and if young people take personal responsibility for the outcomes of their lives, they can gain the skillsets needed to compete anywhere in the world. This is why we are planting experiential learning spaces on university campuses.

How will you advise the federal government as regards graduate employment?

The first point is to partner with the private sector to set up career development centres across universities. These centres will serve as complementary learning spaces for workplace preparedness, mentoring, recruitment, and internship placements which will also be carried out in these spaces.

Secondly, rework the NYSC programme for it to be a talent incubator and remedial capacity building program that can make up for the entrepreneurial and workplace competency gaps amongst corps members. It could be designed in such a way that corps members engage in activities that equip them with problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and teamwork skills which are critical 21st-century requirements in the world of work and entrepreneurship.

Lastly, the private sector and government can partner on upskilling young people with digital skills for the gig economy, which is an avenue for any competent young person to earn in foreign currency while living in Nigeria and working for clients across the globe. Technology skills are the pathways to making this happen and this gives us the advantage to bring in scarce foreign exchange. India plays a leading role in this area and Nigeria can greatly benefit from this.

You are the founder of CampusLabs. What is it about?

CampusLabs is a company with a social mission of equipping and connecting young people from Nigerian universities with entrepreneurial, employability, and technology skills for them to be able to compete in today’s global economy.

We partner with universities, companies, and governments for the creation of entrepreneurial ecosystems and short-term ownership of coffee shops and other businesses on university campuses so that students can move on to launch new companies and gain employability skills.

How do you achieve this, and why do you think the students/graduates need it?

The CampusLabs Employability Incubator, in partnership with the 234Project, is a workplace readiness programme designed to equip young people with the competencies required for today’s workplace demands. Selected applicants will undergo classroom sessions and interactions with seasoned facilitators, paired with mentors from different parts of the world, and also undergo a job shadowing experience (internship).

Furthermore, there is a community impact component, where participants get to design solutions and engage in a community development project of their choice. The goal is to expose young people to the benefits of being socially responsible citizens. The programme runs for two months culminating in a graduation/cocktail event where grandaunts will be interacting with our partners from the United States and other industry executives.

What courses are taught in the programme?

We have 32 sessions focused on different areas such as emotional intelligence, preparing for interviews, the creative job search, self-awareness, business writing, building professional networks, career development planning. This is just to mention a few, as we have over 20 facilitators sharing their vast experience.

How can the programme help the students/graduates in the labour market?

The programme provides participants with knowledge, tools, and relationships to launch their careers. The programme has been carefully designed to ensure that each participant is connected to an industry professional that they envision as pathways to a successful career and getting their first job.

After the programme, where will their internships be? what kind of community project will they be exposed to?

They will be placed in various organisations that cut across different industries and sectors. The goal is for them to have an experience of the workplace and also gain valuable relationships and skills  for the next level of their career growth.

In respect to the community impact project, we added this component because we wanted to groom socially responsible citizens who are not only concerned about earning a paycheck and climbing the corporate ladder. One advantage of engaging in the community project is that they learn  how to apply the design thinking process (also known as human-centred design) in developing solutions for any community of their interest. These projects enable them to deepen skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, public speaking, and leadership, just to mention a few.