Education minister advises graduates to seek self employment
The education minister, Ruqayyatu Ahmed-Rufai, has
urged fresh graduates not to depend on white collar jobs after leaving
school, saying government alone could not meet the challenges of
unemployment in the country.
Mrs. Ahmed-Rufai, who gave the advice at the weekend
at the 31st convocation ceremony of the Adeyemi College of Education,
Ondo, said few vacancies that existed in the civil service could not
meet the demands of thousands of fresh graduates searching for gainful
employment.
She, therefore, charged them to embrace
entrepreneurial skills and develop initiatives for self-employment
generation, noting that no nation can develop without adequately
investing in human capital development.
Represented by the permanent secretary in the federal
ministry of education, Oladapo Afolabi, the minister said the education
sector was presently being repositioned to enable it play the very
important role of providing the much-needed human capital to transform
the country to a better place to live.
“The Federal Ministry of Education has taken various
steps to transform the sector. One of such steps is the unveiling of
the Road Map for the sector in March, 2009,” he said.
“The aim of the Road Map is to provide the much
needed qualitative education and to address the four cardinal points of
Access and Equity; Standards and Quality; Standards and Quality
Assurance; Technical and Vocational Education; Training, as well as
Funding and Resource Utilization.”
Upgrade the school
The chairman, governing council of the institution,
Grace Ekong, lauded the ministry for its recent move to upgrade the
college to a university status. She urged the Federal Executive Council
to approve the proposal to elevate some federal colleges of education
in the country to degree awarding universities, stressing that efforts
had been made in the past towards upgrading the college to an
autonomous degree awarding university of education.
“We will still work towards attaining the status.
Adeyemi College of Education, no doubt, has on ground, facilities
suitable for a university of education and it is already producing
degree graduates,” she said.
About 6, 669 students of the institution will be presented with
degree certificates, while 4, 068 will have their Nigeria Certificate
of Education.
Madam Minister, THESE GRADUATES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UP TO LOOK FOR PAID JOBS. THIS THE GENERAL ORIENTATION IN OUR UNIVERSITIES.I AM THEREFORE SURPRISED THAT YOU WILL MAKE SUCH A STATEMENT.INSTEAD OF PEOPLE CARTING AWAY BILLIONS OF OUR GENERAL MONEY INTO THEIR PERSONAL ACCOUNTS,ATTEMPTS SHOULD BE MADE TO USE THE MONEY TO CREATE JOBS FOR THESE YOUNG PEOPLE.MOST IMPORTANTLY YOU ARE IN A POSITION TO BEGIN TO CHANGE THE ORIENTATION OF OUR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS SELF EMPLOYMENT.I AM SURE THE U.S WILL BE WILLING TO ASSIST. THANK YOU………