Banire Urges FG to Create Postgraduate Employability Programmes

Banire Urges FG to Create Postgraduate Employability Programmes

By Ugo Aliogo

The Convener, United Action for Change (UAC), Dr. Muiz Banire has advised the federal government to create postgraduate employability programmes in tertiary institutions in order to improve employability skill sets.

Banire disclosed this in Lagos recently, at the Annual Youth Leadership Programme of UAC with the theme: ‘The Future of Nigeria Youth in a New Normal World.’

He urged tertiary institutions in the country to place more emphasis on practicability than theoretical approach in their teaching methods, saying, “we rely heavily on paper qualification and unfortunately, our tertiary institutions are equally challenged there.”

According to him, “Government needs to create postgraduates employability to build the capacity of the youths in various areas of white and blue collar jobs. To a large extent, we are too theoretical in our approach to issues in this country. People need to be more practical oriented.

“We also need to re-channel the energies of these youths because in the first instance, we have the problem of unemployment, 70 per cent of the youths are jobless, and so that is a challenge on its own. The second challenge is that most of the youths are unemployable, and we need to develop their capacity.”

Continuing, Banire urged governments at all levels to develop programmes in tertiary institutions along the lines of vocational training in order to promote self-employment for the youths.

He appealed to government assist the youths through provision of direct and indirect subsidies to accelerate youth empowerment and prevent from them taking to various vices.

Banire added: “The new normal requires a lot of things to be done virtually. Some of these youths don’t have money to buy data to browse. Another challenge is the low level of internet penetration. Government should find a way of actively engaging the youths.

“Government needs to work assiduously to provide internet to remote areas and ensure that coverage is strong. Government should build the capacity of youths in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).”

Speaking on the programme, he affirmed that since the inception of this programme five years ago, the essence has been to bridge the leadership gap in the capacity of the youths.

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