Graduate unemployment conundrum and possible mitigants.

Austen Chilokwu

Education is an inalienable right of every child as enshrined in the United Nations Charter which further stated that it is the best single investment for prosperity and an equitable society. The immense benefits include but are not limited to empowerment, doors for employment opportunities, and higher income. This provision is also domesticated in Chapter 2 of our 1999 Constitution which provides for the Right to Education.

However, as days and weeks unfold, graduates are churned out in droves by over 200 Universities and 159 Polytechnics while job vacancies are few and far between. They roam the streets searching for jobs and opportunities that have turned out to be tall orders. Obviously, the future of our youths is enveloped in uncertainty as it has been circumscribed by the misgovernance of the national and subnational governments that are not even batting eyelids.

The unemployment conundrum is dire and will definitely worsen in the coming years as Nigeria produces more than 500,000 graduates annually and only an insignificant percentage secure jobs. Mr. Tunde Fowler, the former FIRS Chairman, painted a grim and ugly picture a few years ago when he stated that the advert by FIRS for 500 vacancies elicited more than 700,000 applications out of which 2000 were 1st class graduates. The youths are indeed in dire straits. SAD!

Incidentally, Chief Joe Igbokwe, APC chieftain/Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor, advised on X [formerly Twitter] a few days ago that: “Nigeria with a population of more than 200 million people is a potential market. If you are a graduate and cannot find a job go and learn skills: Painting, laying tiles, trading, laying POP, iron works, making doors, transportation, trading online.” The politicians have battered/milked our economy and Nigeria is a tinderbox poised for a spark.

The possibility of securing employment is almost non-existent. To add salt to injury, some companies viz. Tower Aluminium, Michelin Tyres, GSK Pharmaceuticals, Evan Medicals, Procter and Gamble, Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, etc. and some indigenous SMEs have closed shops/relocated or are in the throes of winding up with the resultant loss of jobs/abbreviation of further employment. Economically, Nigeria is in the doldrums and has deteriorated inexorably under APC’s watch.

Against this background therefore, it is considered necessary that graduates/school leavers log into builtin.com/learn for tech courses, skills required, certifications, careers, etc. and share with relations, friends, colleagues, etc. for action by our beleaguered youths. The unemployed youths should also log into https://www.freecodecamp.org in order to learn to code for free. Web Development course as well as other tech courses are also contained therein.

It is worth mentioning that tech education is the emerging new oil and a viable alternative for a plethora of our youths who are almost always confronted with a dearth of jobs. In the alternative, they should enlist for programs [Digital Marketing, ECommerce, UI/UX, Data Analytics, Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, SQL, Software Engineering, Programming, Cybersecurity, Project Management, etc.] at NIIT, APTECH, HIIT, etc. in various cities in Nigeria.

It should be noted that the courses at the Institute run for between 3 and 9 months and prepare students for local/international jobs, inclusive of remote jobs. In addition, they should seek succour through coursera.com for these and other ONLINE courses [Google, Microsoft, IBM, Meta certifications, etc] which are beneficial with minimal or no fees. Incidentally, Indians were previously in the same ‘cesspit’ as Nigerian graduates but have taken the world by storm and are currently the greatest suppliers of tech workforce in the US and Europe.

Besides, the tech companies in the US that are headed by Indian-origin executives are Google, Alphabet, Microsoft, Microchip, IBM, Adobe, Vimeo, Micron Technology, Palo Alto Networks, Western Digital, VMware, NetApp Cadence Design, Flex, Arista Networks, etc. Granted that many Indian tech CEOs studied at Ivy League Universities, it behoves our youths to pick up the gauntlet.

Additionally, I advise as follows: 1700 Free Online courses from Top Universities/Open Culture – the link is https://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses. It would be useful not only now but in the future as it covers diverse areas of study – Philosophy, Law and Justice, Personal Development, Artificial Intelligence, Codeacademy, Cybersecurity, Machine Learning, Programming languages, etc. Kindly share the website too.