The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Prof. Mohammad Haruna, has called on tertiary associations such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education(NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to review the curriculum for Entrepreneurship courses in order to tackle the issue of unemployment among graduates in Nigeria.
Haruna made the call at the groundbreaking event of the permanent site of NASENI Skill Acquisition Centre in Gwantu Kurmi, Kaduna State. He pointed out that graduates are jobless because of misalignment between products of our tertiary institutions and the limited job market, noting that the building of NASENI skill acquisition centres across the country would address unemployment and industrial development.
He appealed to university commissions and other educational institutions to overhaul the curriculum used in teaching Entrepreneurship courses “Most tertiary institutions in Nigeria have no qualified lecturers and enabling environment to teach entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a practical course taught only by practicing entrepreneurs.
“Experts in management sciences and marketing with no training in entrepreneurship are not qualified to teach entrepreneurship courses.
“NASENI Skill development centres across the nations will collaborate with willing tertiary institutions in their catchment areas to bridge this gap.”
Haruna spoke further on the specific areas that the skill acquisition centre in Gwantu Kurmi in Kaduna State would cover. “This skill development centre will train and develop middle level manpower with focus on employability in selected occupational areas, provide and improve training standards and ensure that the right technical and vocational skills needed by the local industries are available.
“It will also focus on empowering the youths with two multiple technical and entrepreneurial skills for job mobility and wealth creation, and certify the skills and competences of the trainees for fair share of the labour market.
“The impact of the centre will lead to reduction in rural-urban migration; it would reduce youth restiveness; promote agro-allied businesses and generally enhance security in the southern Kaduna Area of this State.”
About NASENI
The mandate of the Agency includes the development of relevant processes, capital goods and equipment necessary for job creation, national economic well-being and progress. The Agency took deliberate interest in key areas of science and engineering development because any nation that aspires to attain socio-economic transformation must definitely invest in them in order to engender competition.
