NECA partners ACCA on capacity development

As part of its commitment to increase the numbers of professionals and reduce the rate of unemployment in the country the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association  (NECA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Besides, the move according to the parties is aimed at boosting capacity development among the youths.Speaking at the event, NECA’s Director General, Olusegun Oshinowo said the collaboration was informed by the need to create a balance between numbers of educated youths and job opportunities available.

Osinowo also argued that it was high time youths stood up to meet present day challenges in job placement and availability.
“The development is primarily premised on finding the palliative solution to the disturbing disconnect and parallel co-existence of an army of the unemployed and employers groaning in the search of the right personnel in Nigeria usually referred to as the disconnect between the town and the gown”.

Many organizations need people who can drop the gown and become functional as many organizations cannot afford to babysit in this very tight competitive environment of today’s business that has led to poaching and outsourcing.

Therefore this relationship is to bridge that gap between the town and the gown; a relationship mutually beneficial to the two bodies.

As we increase the value and usability of your products in addition to the qualitative traditional tertiary education you offer, your graduates become more marketable and most sought after in the marketplace,  ’’Osinowo said.
Explaining further, he said the partnership between the two parties is another major landmark for NECA following how long it had come in putting in place the requisite standards and undertaking the rigorous process in ensuring proficiency and complete alignment with the syllabi of both institutions.

The Chief Executive of ACCA, Helen Brand said noted that the partnership is very symbolic in nurturing tomorrow’s leaders. “The signing of the MoU is symbolic in a number of ways, especially when one considers that some years back Nigerian gradates were unemployable. Looking at it is at that time; there was virtually no interaction between academia and industry.

What we have signed today is a way of bridging the gap and a means of improving the quality of education and a way of improving the employability of graduates in Nigeria, ’’ Brand said.
To this end, she pledged that ACCA would ensure that it protects the MoU, “cherish it, nourish it and remain open to constructive criticism along the line”.