Edubanc has called for a partnership between the private sector and academia to ensure that over 6000 graduates from Nigerian universities are fit for the labour market.

General Manager, Business Development and Finance at Edubanc, Damian Umeasala made the call at the graduation of the first cohort of the Grind Hackathon at CafeOne, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Lagos.

Over 70 students were admitted in 2024 with 20 students graduating from the programme that started in July 2024 and the students were mentored for six months.

They underwent impacting skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI), cyber security, product management, product design and other skills that prepare them for the future.

Umeasala said Nigerian universities release over 600,00 graduates into the labour market with many unemployable which explains the rising unemployment in the country.

“This initiative is about imbuing skills in graduates and students to ensure that they are ready for the workplace. We are hoping to admit 100 students for the next cohort. Most of those who graduated are employed because they passed through this programme,” he added. He advised the organised private sector to partner with academia to expand initiatives such as this.

“People keep complaining that Nigerian graduates are not readily employable.”

It is simply because our academic curriculum requires a lot of practical inclusion. If job-ready courses are not made part of the day-to-day curriculum of the students, we will keep dishing out graduates who are not readily employable. My call is also to the organised private sector to combine forces with universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education so that we can start grooming students and upon graduation, we will have readily available graduates that can fit into any sector of the economy,” Umeasala said.

Speaking also, one of the graduates, Geffrey Orji, said: “This programme has helped me with the skills needed to excel. It has helped my communication skills and public speaking. Through the programme, I built my skills in preparing and presenting reports. The Grind is an initiative that prepares graduates for the real world. This gives the necessary training for the workplace. Going through this training will limit the time employers spend training their staff.”