In a bid to bridge the unemployment gap by ensuring that graduates fit into what employers require in the job market as well as enhance young people’s ability to be employable, Poise Graduate Finishing Academy (PGFA) an affiliate of Poise Nigeria set up a three months programme that tackles this challenge.
The programme which has trained over 10, 000 graduates since its inception in 2012 have recorded an 87 per cent employment rate even as employers have attested to their excellent communication skills, good knowledge of business etiquette and performing excellently to assigned task.
According to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mavi Sokia Isibor, the unemployment situation has riddled our economy and with youth’s restiveness, the future is bleak. “The Nigerian bureau of statistics puts Nigeria’s unemployment rate at an alarming increase of 7.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year, it is therefore pertinent that we come together to curb the appalling state of unemployment faced by the Nigerian youth after convoking from the tertiary institutions.
“We hope that with our relentless research and hard work to enhance youth development and mould young minds for the greater good of the nation, other organizations can partner to foster youth empowerment.”
The Chief Executive Officer PGFA, Mrs. Ukinebo Dare who won the future awards and ford foundation prize for youth empowerment through the graduate finishing academy noted that she is motivated to improve employability of fresh graduates since there is a gap between school curriculum and the work place environment.
It is important for us to get higher institutions recognize the need for employability skills in the lives of the graduates they put much effort in training, so it is necessary to connect the needs of organizations and the structured university curriculum, that is what our certificate approved by the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) projects.
Mrs. Dara however noted that their success rate is harnessed by having direct connection with employers needs and moulding undergraduates in such a way that there is no or a negligible gap between their skills and what is required by employers.
