Introduction
As far back as the 80s, a higher education qualified a graduate to transition into a white-collar job in Nigeria effortlessly. It is worthy of note that secondary school graduates also found it easier to secure decent-paying employment at that time. However, that is not the case today, as higher education alone is not enough to secure decent employment. The graduate unemployment situation is such that individuals with higher degrees (for example, master’s degrees and even Ph.D.) are part of the pool of unemployed. In 2018, a graduate unemployment survey conducted by Stutern revealed that of the 5,219 graduates interviewed, 28.9% were without jobs. A further breakdown in the survey showed that OND, HND, Bachelors’ degree holders comprised 40.52%, 39.40%, 28.58% of the unemployed respondents, respectively. While ‘master’s degree, PhD, and MBA holders comprised 17.97%, 15%, and 14.29%. While there are several causes of graduate employment, this article focuses on one of such factors -the lack of employability skills among graduates. The article further explains why the lack of employability skills is a problem, discusses some recent solution interventions, and makes suggestions on how to improve current interventions.
Is Lack of Employability Skills a Cause of Graduate Unemployment?
There are several causes of graduate unemployment in Nigeria. Some of these include an inelastic labour market to absorb graduate turnover and lack of employability skills for graduates.
Employability skills refer to those skills that are required for every job. They include communication, leadership, reliability, problem solving, self-management, among others.
These skills are key to the success of every organisation as such employers place a high premium on them. Not possessing these skills is one of the reasons why graduates are turned away from job recruitment exercises. Some employers have shared that graduate of higher institutions lack some of these workplace skills which are critical to workplace success. A study on the labour market prospects of Nigerian graduates asked 55 executives of public enterprises to speak on their perception of Nigerian graduates. The output from the study conveyed a clear conclusion that Nigerian graduates lack employability skills. The eroding standard of education in the country takes the blame for this. In a survey of recent graduates in the year 2018 by Stutern, 50% of 5,219 respondents admitted that the university did not equip them with employability skills. In another report released by LEAP Africa in 2019, 67% of a pool of 80 graduates admitted that the university had not prepared them for employment.
Nigerian higher educational institutions equip graduates with hard skills while neglecting the development of employability skills which are core for the transitioning of graduates into the labour market as well as for workplace productivity. The lack of these skills in the profile of graduates keeps them in the pool of the unemployed, no matter their degree of certification.
The Journey of resolving the Graduate employability Challenge
Leadership Accountability and Professionalism (LEAP) Africa has been working to address the graduate employability challenge. As far back as 2018, LEAP Africa implemented the School to work programme to equip young Nigerian graduates with employability skills, leadership and entrepreneurship skills. The evaluation report from the programme revealed that 58 out of the 76 programme participants reported having gained decent jobs after the program. This is an indication that the intervention achieved an appreciable level of success, and it also proved that if graduates are equipped with employability skills they will go ahead to secure decent employment.
There is more to be done
While current initiatives such as the School to Work programme (implemented by LEAP Africa) are yielding desired results by helping many graduates gain decent employment, there is a need to improve on these innovations to achieve even better results. One such way is to enhance the scale of the School to Work programme. Support from international organisations and the Nigerian private sector will go a long to expand this programme thus, enabling a more significant number of graduates to benefit from this critical programme. Similarly, other Not-for-profit organisations can adapt this programme for implementation in various parts of the country. This singular action will go a long way in reducing the number of unemployed graduates in the country.
Another way to address the challenge of employability-skill-induced graduate employment is to incorporate the learning of these skills in the curriculum of higher education. To this effect, the government as the regulator of learning activities in higher institutions should ensure that teaching in higher institutions should incorporate the development of work-relevant skills such as communication skills, teamwork (among others) in the classrooms. This way, graduates will be ready for the labour market before leaving their institutions. Hence, there will be no need for graduate finishing programmes.
Not-for-profit organisations can help by providing interventions for students in higher institutions to make students job-ready upon graduation. Also, a partnership between the private sector and learning institutions could lend some support to the training of students by providing insights into the core skills required for various industry jobs.
In conclusion, this article identifies the lack of employability skills as a major contributor to youth unemployment in Nigeria. It suggests policy actions to mitigate this challenge. They include but not restricted to upgrading higher education curriculum to include practical training on job-relevant skills, employability skills training for students of higher institutions and private sector initiatives that ensures that higher institutions are updated on the core skills required for success in the workplace.
by Terhemen Agabo
