French Embassy, RIBARA Partner on Employability of Nigerian Youths

The French Embassy in Nigeria has invited RIBARA to its project presentation, titled ‘French in Nigeria’, in an effort to tackle the employability of Nigerian youths.

RIBARA, created by Covenant University and Harvard University graduates, is a leading platform helping users boost their employability through a social media platform for education and job skills. The platform is connecting individuals, universities, and employers to transform education and career outcomes.

The project, set up in partnership with the National Association of University Teachers of French (ANEUF-UFTAN), has made it possible to stir up conversation on the creation of French language programmes that are better adapted to the job market and the new expectations of professional recruiters.

The programme held recently in Abuja, brought together the members of the ANEUF association involved in the project and representatives of various institutional and educational organisations in order to review the first conclusions and the actions to be taken to improve the teaching and learning environment for French.

Speaking at the project presentation,  Thierry Valentin, Head of Cooperation and Cultural Action at the French Embassy, emphasised the embassy’s commitment to collaboration.

“The French Embassy obtained funding in July 2024 to launch this project. We are engaging all necessary stakeholders to ensure it delivers tangible outcomes for Nigerian youths,” he said.

The Linguistic Attaché also highlighted the embassy’s comprehensive audit of French language programs in 10 Nigerian universities, aimed at redesigning curricula for B.A. French students and minors to better align with professional expectations.

A co-founder of RIBARA, Dr. Ada Peter of Covenant University, Ota, explained in her presentation that the educational landscape is evolving rapidly, yet there’s a widening gap between academia and industry needs.

She explained that universities are struggling to keep their curricula relevant, and students are finding themselves ill-prepared for the workforce. 

“That’s where Ribara comes in. Ribara is not just another educational or networking platform. We have developed a complete ecosystem that bridges the gap between education and employability, ensuring that every student is on a personalised path to job readiness, every university can continuously improve the relevance of its curricula, and every employer can access job-ready talent on the website www.ribara.co. This unique tool allows users to connect, track, and assess their employability across over 51,200 job roles,” she said.

Peter stated that universities could use this feature to analyse and improve the industry relevance of their teaching content.