Stakeholders meet over challenges militating against graduates’ employment

The Federal Government of Nigeria has called on relevant stakeholders to improve on Human Capital Development that will adequately impact employable skills to the workforce for a sustainable economy.

The call became more imperative as the stakeholders gathered at a crucial meeting to holistically deliberate on the challenges militating against the employment of graduates of tertiary institutions and Technical Vocational Education and Training Centres (TVET).

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who made the call at the meeting of the National Employment Council held in Abuja, said the meeting was also to review what has been done by different Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

According to Ngige, the school curriculum from primary to the tertiary level does not adequately impact employable skills to the students, adding that some employers fill job advertisements with a list of ideal requirements most applicants do not have, resulting in low match rates and few potential candidates.

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He pointed out that, while many fresh graduates were technically sound, they lack basic ICT communication, interpersonal and other critical soft skills to obtain and keep a job, hence, the need for the council to deliberate on the issue of “Human Capital Development and Workability of the Workforce”.

To this end, the minister urged the members to pay attention to the presentation by stakeholders, identify gaps in what they are currently doing, criticize constructively and make suggestions that will add value to their work in addressing the problem of skill gap in the economy.

Dr. Chris Ngige enjoined the members of the council to show utmost dedication and commitment and be willing to make sacrifices to enable the council deliver on its mandate.

Resource persons at the meeting were drawn from National Universities Commission (NUC), Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigeria Universities, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Industrial Training fund (ITF) and National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE