Nile University’s career fair aimed to drive employability, bridge gaps

Authorities of Nile University of Nigeria have explained that its career fair which was held recently at its Campus in Abuja was aimed to drive employability and bridge identified gaps between students, graduates, and employers.

Fausat Aleshinloye, Head of Student Services at the university, explained further that the career fair was a major milestone for them at Nile University because it was the biggest and the first to be organized since the school became a member of the Honoris United Universities.

“Employability is a key objective of Honoris, and this is reflected in its vision to continuously invest in reshaping the delivery of education to match the needs of employers against the backdrop of the fourth industrial revolution by preparing the 21st-century African talents for a more digitalized and technologically advanced future,” Aleshinloye noted.

Dilli Dogo, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, emphasised that “one of our key objectives at Nile University is employability and this Career Fair typifies our desire to expose our students, partners, and stakeholders to future opportunities.”

Continuing, he said, “we realize that when graduates and interns apply for jobs, they compete against thousands of applicants for the same position. To that effect, we are leveraging our relationships with partner organizations to bring these employers directly to our students and alumni.”

The career fair, now in its third edition, was organized by the Career Services Centre, one of the fully functional career services centres in any university in Nigeria.

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The centre has professional career advisors who guide, advise, and provide career counselling; help students plan out career strategies, skills development, and CV writing techniques; set up LinkedIn profiles, interview preps, and search for jobs and internship opportunities.

Over 50 organizations, including the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Providus Bank, Access Bank, Bank of Industry, Huawei Technologies, and HP Inc. were present at the event to interview students and alumni for internship and job opportunities on the spot.

Others present at the fair were Interra Networks, Premium Wellness Services, Taj Bank, Polaris Bank, Nigerian Computer Society, Jaiz Bank, Norrenberger,

Martha Ugwunwa, a 500-level Computer Engineering student, commended the university for hosting the Career Fair. “Listening to the advice and experiences of the panelists as well as interacting with the representatives of the different organizations present was an eye-opening experience that helped me to know what to expect in the laboor market,” she said.

The panel discussion, which was one of the highlights of the Fair featured notable players in the Corporate and Education sector such as Lanre Phillips, a seasoned professional currently responsible for managing the education sector for HP Inc. in Central and East Africa.

Others were Ogo Ifeoma Akabogu of Bank of Industry, Odinaka Ikejibe, Zonal Head, Business Banking at Access Bank, Abuja; Nnnena Obeka, seasoned Human Resources practitioner at Golden Penny, Emmanuel Okwara Jnr, seasoned Financial, Business and Life Coach & Country Director for Equiti Nigeria and Ridwan Ganiy, current Chairman, and Ayodele Awojobi, Design Competition (PAADC).