The way out of graduate unemployment

One of the greatest fears of most Nigerian students is remaining unemployed long after graduation. Some graduates have remained without jobs more than 10 years after school, with a lot more joinning them regularly.Many accept low paying salaried jobs because they have no choice; their choices are limited because they have no skills outside the […]

One of the greatest fears of most Nigerian students is remaining unemployed long after graduation. Some graduates have remained without jobs more than 10 years after school, with a lot more joinning them regularly.
Many accept low paying salaried jobs because they have no choice; their choices are limited because they have no skills outside the theory learnt in school.
The job outlook is grim and there seems to be no solution in sight as most intervention efforts concentrate on paying jobless graduates a stipend for a specified period of time (mostly not more than 12 months) instead of teaching them lifelong skills in trades and crafts.
However, there has been a rise in the number of graduates abandoning the search for white collar jobs as opportunities for self-employment continue to present themselves. Those who studied accounting, education, engineering, history, veterinary medicine and even journalism are increasingly looking beyond earning salaries and building a career in offices.
Many have embraced fish farming, poultry, carpentry, fashion design, plumbing and even tiling as a means of livelihood and may continue with the business even if they secure dream jobs that pay in six figures.
Non-governmental organisations and many government agencies as well as individuals have come up with training programmes for graduates and many of those targeted have seized the opportunity with thousands telling their stories of rags to riches every day.
The bad news however is that due to sheer ignorance or pride, many unemployed graduates look down on such vocations without bothering to educate themselves on how most multi billion Naira companies in Nigeria started.
For example, most big time poultry farmers will tell you that they started with not more than 100 chickens, while some fish farmers will tell you they started in a one room apartment with just a few fingerlings.
Many unemployed graduates may complain of lack of funds to register for such trainings but most of the trainings are provided for free. In fact, some trainers even provide stipends for their trainees all in the bid to ensure that more people benefit.
The National Directorate for Employment (NDE) is one of such organisations that have trained youths for more than 25 years now. Recently, it introduced boarding facilities suitable for skills acquisition. The centres, according to the organisation’s Director General Malam Abubakar Mohammed are specially designed to provide both vocational and agricultural skills’ training simultaneously.
Unemployed graduates and even those who are underemployed will do well to utilise these training facilities scattered across the country so as to not just get a job, but also become job creators.
Interested applicants can receive training in computer operations and engineering, auto-tronics, welding and fabrication, plumbing, electrical installation, GSM handset repairs and fashion designing. For those in Abuja and Kwara State, the boarding facilities provide additional in-house training in agricultural skills such as fish farming, cattle fattening, grass cutter production, sheep and goat rearing, poultry production, dry season farming and crop production and processing.
The NDE recently commissioned its skills acquisition centres in Katsina State,  Abuja and Kwara State where Mohammed urged youths to “value and uphold the importance of skills acquisition,” stressing that skills “provide windows of opportunities for self-reliance, self-worth and positive contribution into the economy of the community and the nation at large.”
He informed Nigerian youths that “it is better to have marketable vocational skills and never use them, than not have them and one day need them.”
As openings in profitable salaried employment across the country continue to shrink, graduates should bring their education to bear in making a success of the relatively untapped informal sector. The sector is creating millionaires daily and all it takes is a visit to the nearest skills acquisition centre.