Don canvasses graduate training for skill acquisition

Churning out first class university graduates that do not have the requisite job enabling skills will only increase unemployment rate in the country, the newly appointed Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Prof. Muhammed Mustapha Akanbi has said.
 
To tackle graduate unemployment in Nigeria, he hinted that KWASU is now consciously producing graduates that are readily engaged in one job-enabling skill or trade before and after graduation.
   
Prof. Akanbi, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and one of the youngest Vice Chancellors in the country, noted that KWASU which already has an existing centre for entrepreneurship would soon roll out academic programmes that will ensure all its students are exposed to state-of-the-art skills in computing.

At the same time, they will understand at least one foreign language to prepare them for the 21st century’s challenges.

Speaking when he led the management of the institution on a working visit to some select government agencies in Abuja, to mobilise support for the University, the VC said: “Our University is a university of community development and entrepreneurship. I like the fact that you appreciate what we are doing with entrepreneurship.

We are rejigging the centre and renamed ‘centre for vocational, technical and entrepreneurship’ because we don’t want to teach entrepreneurship just in theory. We get our students involved in vocational things and the technical aspects.
   
“Already, we encourage our students to engage in different entrepreneur skills, acquire, hold and consider all certificates important. It does not make any sense if you are a first class student and you are looking for a job after graduation.”
   
On grooming the University’s students to be self-reliant instead of job seekers after graduation, Akanbi said KWASU has a programme that makes it mandatory for every student to own a business.