Dearth of companies and industries that could gainfully employ young graduates have continued to worry stakeholders in the education sector of the country.
Such stakeholders like the teachers have continued to appeal to government at all levels to complement their efforts of moulding future leaders by industrialising the country.
Government, they believe, should revive the moribond industries and those shut down, as well as establish new ones, to gainfully employ the teeming population of jobless youths.
Teachers believe that though their salaries are meagre compared to the hardwork and commitment, they are satisfied when their products (the graduates) are fulfilled.
No youth finds fulfilment in joblessness rather they are depressed and frustrated and at last the family and society bear the brunt.
They lament that the present day politicians that rule the country at all levels, see no reason why government should establish a company for the jobless to work in, yet there are no conducive environment to help the private sector succeed.
Unlike the generation of political leaders that built industries that provided jobs for the teeming population in the 70s and 80s, the slogan today is “Government has no business doing business.”
Same politicians fight to remain in office and manipulate to transfer power and office to their children and great-grand children while the private sector continues to collapse. You must have to bleed to run your business or you abandon it for something else.
Now, many Nigerians prefer being politicians because of the jumbo salaries and allowances, even juicy contracts they enjoy.
They don’t want to bleed unnecessarily.
In Nigeria, politics is taken as a profession by the players and this is seen to have crippled every other sector of the nation’s economy. Hence, the unemployed youths with all their educational certificates have coined the slogan, “education is a scam!”
The belief that education is a scam has launched several youths into vices like armed robbery, yahoo-yahoo and yahoo-plus as well as prostitution with the negative effects of sicknesses and untimely death. Such vices have also contributed to the high level of insecurity in the country.
An educationist, Nancy Oluajo, in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay, said that’s not the way we should go as a nation even as she expressed hope that things would certainly turn around for the country.
“I remember in the 1970s and 1980s, there were certain fashions that were in vogue. At a point, they became vague and another fashion took over and later another level of fashion.
“The same thing happens with the economy. At a point, it was the business people that reigned.
The civil service was not attractive until a particular administration came in and declared minimum wage and civil servants became the envy of all.
“I know that things will definitely turn around one day,” Oluajo,
who is the proprietress of the Firm Foundation Schools, Asaba, Delta State, said.
She further said: “Before, our children concentrated on educational certificates, but today, even when they are in school, they are into skills and crafts.
“That is why as a school, we introduced Career Day to help guide them. In celebrating Career Day, we group them into careers like Catering and Confectioneries, Tailoring and Fashion Designing, professions like medicine, engineering, teaching, banking amongst others, and they display their talents and abilities. We continue to guide them so they don’t just focus on acquiring certificates.
“Most youths are jobless today because they believed that after school there is job for them out there. If they had acquired skills and crafts, they would meaningfully engage themselves and be able to meet their needs.”
Oluajo however, advised the federal and state governments to complement the efforts of teachers in the country.
“We mould future leaders and government should complement our efforts by reviving the moribond industries across the states and country.
“Some of these companies that have been shut down should be revived for our up coming youngsters to have places they can walk in and gain employment.
“Apart from that, government should assist those in the private sector of the economy, so that in their businesses and endeavours they would come to standards that they could engage some of the graduates.’
She frowned at a situation whereby those in the private sector are left unsupported financially.
“They struggle all alone. I advise government to support them not by giving them loans with stringent conditions. There should also be enabling environment for their businesses to thrive,” she said.
