Former Minister of Education and
immediate past Vice President of the World Bank (Africa), Dr Oby Ezekwesili,
yesterday said most graduates in the country were unemployed “because majority
of them study courses that are in low demand in the labour market.” Ezekwesili stated this as a guest
speaker during a programme organised by The Baptising Church (TBC), titled How
to Build a World-Class Career, in Abuja.
“So, why do employers often turn down
applicants? Because of lack of competence,” she said.
“We found out that the courses that
most Nigerian students study are not what we need at the labour market; we call
them warehouse courses.
“So, instead of the market accepting
them, it rejects them, so they go back to the warehouse.”
Oby, as she is fondly called, said
she introduced a scheme called Tracking Assets for Progress (TAP) when she was
the Minister of Education, in order to fully utilise products coming out of
higher institutions.
“You know, the university or
polytechnic is a manufacturing plant; so, we introduced TAP to track where the
finished products were going.
“When they graduate, they are
finished products, and so you put a label on them called certificates.
“When a product is rejected in the
market, it is usually because it does not meet consumers’ needs.”
The former minister said for an
individual to attain greatness, such one must be well-trained, versatile, and
an integrity-keeper.
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