The education – employment mismatch
One of the most pressing issues in Nigeria today is unemployment, particularly among the youth. Many young people complete their education only to remain unemployed for years. While this is often blamed on a static curriculum that fails to teach practical work skills, the root of the problem is deeper – the economy is simply not creating enough jobs to match the number of graduates entering the workforce.
The primary purpose of education is to teach people how to think. Specific employment skills usually come later. To address our current crisis, school curricula must integrate skills acquisition into university and polytechnic programmes. This would allow students to discover their interests and develop the technical abilities needed to secure employment or create opportunities immediately upon graduation.
Global models vs. the Nigerian reality
In Germany, for example, higher education requires students to undertake vocational training as part of their final qualifications.
In the United States, the model often shifts the burden to employers, who recruit graduates and provide specialised training that continues throughout their careers.
In contrast, the Nigerian educational system has remained stagnant for decades, still primarily training people for government jobs. Even when we focus on technical education, we have created an unnecessary divide between university degrees and polytechnic training. Our university-trained engineers often lack practical skills because they are not exposed to real-world training.
Compared to the medical profession, our doctors are among the best-trained in the world because they are engaged in practical work from day one. They spend their years in laboratories and hospitals, observing senior doctors and participating in surgeries. Their excellence and the global demand for their services, stems from a “show me how” rather than a “tell me how” approach. We need a similar revolution across all fields to bridge the gap between thinking and doing.
The AI threat: Evolution, not extinction
Unemployment concerns have been heightened by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). While AI poses a short-term threat to certain roles, history shows that technological innovation eventually creates more jobs than it destroys.
Technology is simply the application of new ideas to solve old problems.
Years ago, the arrival of computers was seen as a death knell for employment. Instead, it birthed entirely new industries. Consider the modern delivery and logistics business, which employs thousands; this was made possible by integrating computers into communication devices. AI will likely evolve in the same way. However, we must still prepare for the immediate disruptions facing our workforce today.
Entrepreneurship: Creating the gap fillers
Because the unemployment gap is so wide, traditional job creation cannot keep pace with the roles being lost to automation. We must look toward entirely new, sustainable avenues, specifically, entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs do more than just employ themselves; they create jobs for others, provide essential training, and contribute to the tax base. Entrepreneurship is defined by two things: the ability to identify a gap in the market and the opportunity to fill it.
While many cite a lack of financing as a barrier, which has also made governments throw money at creating entrepreneurs, true entrepreneurs will tell you that funding is rarely the primary obstacle, if the idea is clear and the passion is present.
The government’s role should not be “distributing money in markets” or hosting redundant conferences. Instead, the government should focus on creating a conducive environment by:
*Improving ease of access to capital.
*Incentivising self-employment ventures.
*Supporting the infrastructure that allows small businesses to thrive.
One thing is clear, entrepreneurship is more than training and funding. The innate ability to look for the opportunity and do the required hard work, cannot be taught.
In today’s world, for instance, teaching basic bookkeeping is almost outdated. One of the core skills, some of these training programmes frequently focus on, is teaching entrepreneurial skills. Technology is helping out in the infrastructure required for most startups today.
A small business can maintain permanent records through emails and bank statements, which can then be handed to a professional accountant at a minimal cost.
The so-called entrepreneurial training is too simple to add much value.
The way forward for skills training.
To bridge the skills gap effectively, we should look to something like the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) model, which provides work experience with ongoing education for students attached to industries and also encourages employers to regularly train their employees to acquire skills.
This ITF system compensates industries that train their staff through refunds and tax benefits. The economy benefits because these trained employees carry their skills with them anywhere they go throughout their careers.
The Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), which attaches students to real work environments during their studies, is one of these schemes that needs to be expanded and pushed, because it remains one of our most effective tools in providing skills training.
The best part of the ITF scheme is that it is self-funded, through the one percent contributions paid by employers, to the Industrial Training Fund, often amounting to billions of naira. I know this first hand, because my first employment was as an accountant at the Industrial Training Fund, headquarters, in Jos Plateau State, after my National youth service.
While this institution has drifted from its original purpose, in the recent past, it is not yet beyond saving. With serious attention and a return to the foundational principles laid down by pioneers like the first executive secretary of the Fund, the late Mr. Abel Ubeku, who later became the CEO of Guinness Nigeria Plc, we can transform the Industrial Training Fund into a serious national skills acquisition institution, that will become an engine of national growth
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Victor Ogiemwonyi, a retired investment banker, is a former Governing Council member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), now Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group). He sent this contribution from Ikoyi, Lagos. He can be reached via comment@businessamlive.com and marketconversations.substack.com
