The JAMB reservation on academic certificate

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, was speaking the gospel truth when he warned recently that university degrees may no longer be guarantees for employment in this Information Age; rather only demonstrable skills will help job-seekers succeed. The admonition is food for thought in the face of proliferation of universities in Nigeria and the increasing number of jobless graduates.

He emphasised that learning, which is the ability to acquire new skills, knowledge and perspectives quickly and effectively is useless without practice; and stated that the tonic which gives vitality to successful living in today’s Information Age is the triad of learning, relearning and unlearning.

Essentially, those with the mindset that accommodates the compasses of learning, unlearning and relearning which are guides in the uncharted territories of the Digital Age will be successful. Hence, the need for Nigerians to prepare for the challenges of the Information Age by taking life-long learning seriously and being willing to change as circumstances unfold.

As the fourth industrial revolution starts, the job of the future will be driven by technology and innovation. Government at all levels should therefore invest in teacher training, technology and innovation to reverse the trend, particularly in the hinterlands. Laboratories, especially those in the rural areas should adopt local technology.

Media contents and practitioners should use successful skilled career Nigerians with demonstrable skills as role models to challenge young Nigerians, so that Nigeria can produce skilled Nigerians; and innovators and technology giants in the mould of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

Against the backdrop that the world is in the Information Age which is not just threatening jobs but providing new opportunities in technology sector and many skills that were not otherwise taught in traditional schools would be needed, government at all levels should ‘disrupt’ poor quality and dysfunctional educational system that created an army of unskilled and unemployable graduate youths, in order to produce graduates with knowledge and skills that can add value to national development.

Nigeria should re-organise technical and non-academic learning. As such, school curricula must be revised for technical and entrepreneurial skills. This is necessary for the graduates to get the necessary skills for jobs and self-employment in the 21st century.

Therefore, the National Universities Commission (NUC), Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA), regulatory bodies in various professions, and the Federal Ministry of Employment, Labour and Productivity should embark on critical review of different skills or knowledge being acquired in Nigeria’s schools at all levels to make them industry-focused through cooperative training such that graduates would be packaged to respond to the needs of employers.

Corporate Nigerians should buy into this initiative because they need to ensure that their tomorrow’s labour force is skilled. Furthermore, the Central Industrial Liaison and Job Placement Unit (CILPU) in various universities in-charge of Student’s Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) should be strengthened for the effective coordination, operation and management of the nation’s future labour force. Industrial training must be encouraged for as many courses as possible to improve the employment prospects of young graduates, especially in entrepreneurship development.

On university education, NUC should ‘push’ the Research and Innovation (R&I) offices in Nigerian universities to encourage students to develop innovative ideas and creative products in a collaborative setting.

While the R&I offices and entrepreneurial centres should encourage students and businesses to incubate new ideas, and prototype new creative products and services. Students in cognate disciplines should be encouraged to fabricate machines and equipment; and experiment with digital, wood, metal and print production.

Specifically, there should be focus on contemporary relevant education for our graduates to knowledgably fit into job vacancies that are advertised daily in a globalised world and the yawning gaps in value creation across various industries.

Also, entrepreneurial studies should be tied to undergraduates’ courses. For instance, a student studying architecture should be encouraged to have entrepreneurial skills in landscaping; media and communication in photography and video production; arts, clothing and textiles among others. Russian university education serves as a model of a country where non-graduated students are oriented towards the needs of the market, society, and individuals; and developed for “self reliant” or the “stand up”. Hence, they are made to get a certificate skill. Delivering these skilled courses should be done in collaboration with industry experts because degrees would no longer be sole guarantors of jobs, but demonstrable skills will.

Given that Information Technology (IT) is a key enabler in promoting knowledge-based growth, creating jobs and providing access to information and knowledge, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) should create more IT hubs in tertiary institutions and cities to increase available platforms where technology, business, innovation and entrepreneurship are nurtured by building pools of both native and evolving talents.

Government at the sub-national level should establish STEAM workshops in collaboration with industry experts for product and skills development and collaborative work where future job-seekers can learn, unlearn and relearn; and also incubate and birth innovations. Such workshops should provide access to fabrication facilities, support creative SMEs and individuals with the development of new products, hosts networking events and learning activities to build a community of practice; forge relationships and partnership projects with venues, organisations, artists, festivals and conferences; and offer grants to select SMEs and sole traders to cover materials for early stage prototyping. Through this, more SMEs will be created and advertised in the yellow pages online.

In addition, sub-national governments should establish skills acquisition centres and sporting academies. For in-school children, at least starting from the senior secondary level of education, demonstrable skills that will help job-seekers succeed should be promoted in line with the 6-3-3-4 system of education which emphasizes technical and vocational at the senior secondary level of education. As such, various high schools should be made to have the necessary laboratories, workshops, power supply, Internet facilities for skill acquisition, not just certificate. Students should at this stage embrace sports, home economics, agriculture (poultry, fish, crop farming and other agric value chain). Again, technical schools’ subjects should be taught by teachers with the right qualifications, instead of just posting teachers from any high school to teach in technical schools.

Besides those currently out of school, particular attention should also be paid to those leaving school with zero or poor qualifications. Even those leaving with top grades should be trained to fit into the labour market, as the school curriculum must be revised for multi-skill and entrepreneurial skillsets. While more skills alone will not necessarily solve the unemployment challenge, there must be opportunity-specific skills certification and re-certification for everyone to find a place in the scheme of things because without the cutting-edge skills that are associated with learning, relearning and unlearning, job placement will be difficult. Even those leaving with top grades should be trained to fit into the labour market, hands-on entrepreneurship and community service education should not be an afterthought.