Okowa Attributes High Rate of Unemployment to Inadequate Skills

Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has attributed the high level of unemployment in Nigeria to the inability of institutions of higher learning in the country to position their products to be self-reliant rather than looking for government jobs.

Okowa who frowned at the high number of graduates who are looking for government jobs, spoke on Wednesday when the management team of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba led by its provost, Dr Ignatius Ezoem, paid him a courtesy call at the government house, Asaba.

According to the governor, unless urgent steps are taken to reverse the trend where graduates of Nigerian universities will rely solely on government jobs to make ends meet, Nigeria will continue to witness high level of unemployment.

He disclosed that his administration has kick-started the process of making Nigerian graduates self-employed by encouraging vocational skill acquisition.
“One of the cardinal programmes of this administration is to ensure that we are able to raise up our children to embrace technical and vocational education that will enable them acquire skills,” he noted.

The governor regretted that the curriculum in the various institutions have been such that most persons that come out of the universities and institutions of higher learning depend on government jobs.

“There is no doubt that spaces for government jobs are getting full and therefore the unemployment rate is high in the country,” he said.

The governor added, “we have kick-started programmes as a government to train our children to acquire skills both agriculturally and entrepreneurially, we will be putting them into situations where they are not just seeking for jobs but they are able to create jobs on their own and able to sustain their various families.”

He expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with agencies that are committed to creating jobs and making the youths to be self-employed, adding that his administration would be glad to partner with the school in this regards.

Earlier, Ezoem congratulated Okowa on his electoral victory and pledged the support of his college for the state government’s youth empowerment and wealth creation programmes.

This day