Year after year, large numbers of people finish their studies at Nigeria's universities and polytechnics only to find the job market closed to them.
Graduate unemployment Nigeria faces keeps worsening, with educated and professionally trained young people growing steadily more used to idling while they wait for openings. They leave campus holding their certificates, armed with what they have learnt and brimming with hope.
Many of them soon learn that holding a degree is no guarantee of landing a position, and graduate unemployment Nigeria is the result. For some, the paper ends up serving better as a wall decoration than as a ticket to employment.
The country seems to have become expert at turning out graduates, yet it fails to open up enough jobs to take them in. This keeps graduate unemployment Nigeria high. Young Nigerians keep earning university degrees, polytechnic diplomas and other professional certificates, but getting hold of a job stays hard. Maybe a new university course should be offered: a bachelor's degree in Waiting for Government Employment.
Another set of would-be National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) participants is getting ready to start orientation camp. This raises a question about graduate unemployment Nigeria that the whole nation should think about. What sense is there in graduates spending years in school and finishing national service, only to go back onto the streets hunting for work? They would have no obvious route to financial independence.
A Jobs Policy for the Period After NYSC
In my firm view, government should think about adopting a well-defined employment policy for the period after NYSC. It would give qualified youth corpers an honest chance of getting a job once their service year ends. It would also help to ease graduate unemployment Nigeria cannot afford to ignore.
Under that arrangement, which could ease graduate unemployment Nigeria, the federal government and the states could make hiring agreements with ministries, parastatals, public bodies and private firms. Graduates who show dedication, discipline and ability during their year of service might then be considered for any openings. These would ideally be in the states where they served or in other places where positions exist.
The writer is not calling for jobs to be handed out automatically, with no regard for a candidate's qualifications, track record or the posts actually open. The proposal to tackle graduate unemployment Nigeria is for a clear policy that gives qualified ex-corps members first consideration whenever fitting openings come up.
National service, the writer notes, exists to foster patriotism, unity among Nigerians, discipline and a spirit of serving the nation. It stands to reason that what young people learn during the year should also open a real route into the economy.
In the writer's view, such a measure could cut joblessness and smooth the move from school into work. It could also help young Nigerians regain their faith that education is worth the effort. Easing graduate unemployment in Nigeria starts with a clear route from service year to work.
Age Limits That Shut Graduates Out
The writer adds that the age limits attached to some government jobs also deserve a fresh look. This is especially true in the military, police and similar state bodies.
It hurts, the writer says, to watch graduates who devoted years to their studies lose their eligibility for certain jobs just because they have passed the stated age cap. Some spend extra years on advanced degrees, serve out the mandatory national service, or deal with situations they cannot control. Only then are they free to take up work.
The writer asks whether the years spent gaining an education should count against someone looking for a job.
Where it makes sense, the authorities ought to revisit tight age restrictions and weigh raising the upper cut-off to 30 for suitable recruitment categories, bearing in mind:
- the demands of the professions;
- medical requirements;
- the nature of the work.
A change of this kind might offer a wider pool of qualified graduates a genuine chance of competing for the posts on offer.
Empowerment Schemes Need More Than Photo Opportunities
Outside public-sector hiring, promises of jobs will never be enough to solve graduate unemployment in Nigeria. Each time the issue becomes impossible to ignore, a well-worn remedy appears. It is an empowerment scheme, a handover event, and pictures of young people collecting sewing machines, motorcycles, farm tools and similar items.
Yet what becomes of those recipients once the cameras have gone home?
Empowerment must not turn into a short-lived show in which beneficiaries collect items one day and slip back into joblessness the next. Such schemes can have value, but they need to be backed by:
- sound training;
- market access;
- financing for businesses;
- mentoring;
- ongoing follow-up.
Nigeria is blessed with vast farmland, mineral wealth, openings in tourism and a young population. Jobs can flow from these assets, provided there is serious investment, working infrastructure, skills training and policies that help firms and whole sectors expand.
Private companies, too, deserve to be treated as a key partner in the fight against unemployment. No government can put every graduate on its payroll, but it can foster conditions in which businesses grow, industries run efficiently and entrepreneurs take on more staff.
When Education Starts to Feel Like a Letdown
Above all, the Nigerian child should never come to see schooling as a letdown. The spreading belief that “last last, school na scam” has to be reversed. Education ought to stay a worthwhile investment in learning, personal growth and the country's advancement. It should not be a path that leaves graduates asking themselves whether all those years of sacrifice paid off.
Few things hurt more than watching young people give their lives to study, gain professional skills and earn the required qualifications. Many then drift for years from one job prospect to the next with nothing to show for it. A number end up accepting work that has nothing to do with what they trained for. Others are driven into informal labour and small-scale trading just to get by.
Plenty more relocate to larger cities hoping for a break, which deprives their home communities of what they might have offered.
Fixing Graduate Unemployment Nigeria Cannot Ignore
Nigeria needs to look again at how it approaches schooling, the national youth service scheme and jobs. Turning out graduates with no openings waiting for them cannot serve as a lasting plan for development. Graduate unemployment in Nigeria will not shrink without a change of course.
Government should, accordingly, weigh up a broad framework for jobs after NYSC. It should also revisit the age limits that restrict recruitment. It should put money into the sectors that can generate lasting employment.
If a nation urges its youth to enrol in school, it must also be ready to build an economy in which they can actually apply what they have learnt.
Progress in education should not be judged only by the number of graduates our institutions release each year. It should also be judged by how well society opens doors for those who leave them, so they can play a part in national development.
The country has to end its role as a production line that sends graduates into joblessness. The moment has come to make qualifications lead to real openings, to convert abilities into output, and to make schooling a genuine route towards a brighter tomorrow.
