'THE CHALLENGE IS TO PRODUCE THE RIGHT GRADUATES'

The fact there are so many unemployed Nigerian graduates is not a testament to poor quality of the degrees awarded to them by Nigerian universities, but is due purely to economics. That is the view expressed by the executive secretary of the National Universities Commission, Julius Okojie. Professor Okojie spoke Thursday at the presentation of a report on Labour Market Observation on Nigerian Graduates in Abuja. He advised Nigerians not to cheapen the country’s educational system by saying that “its degrees are worthless.”

He said people tend to describe Nigerian degrees as worthless because the demand for graduates was less than the supply of jobs in the labour market, adding that the unemployment rate should not be the yardstick for measuring the quality of the graduates. Okojie said Nigerian graduates were not underprivileged and unintelligent but were good and possessed great skills. The NUC boss said the Nigerian education system was good “as it produces intelligent graduates.” He explained that the NUC initiated the survey to understand the needs of the labour market and prepare the students to meet those requirements through proper training.

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