Bukola Afeni
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TEFTFUND) said long-term financing will improve the education sector in Nigeria.
The Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Mr. Sonny Echono stated this at the implementation support workshop for the National Employability Benchmarking Programme in Nigerian universities.
He stressed that the right investment will enable a large number of youths to have access to education.
“We are improving efforts to ensure that education is affordable and accessible to all Nigerians. We are thinking of establishing an education bank where people and institutions of learning can invest for the good of all our youths”, he said.
Echono further advised students to leverage the internet to acquire ICT skills.
He urged the students to also develop entrepreneurial skills while in school such that when they graduate they are ready for the labour market.
” We have revived our entrepreneurship hub in six geo-political zones in the country. The interventions will enhance the knowledge of the students and will promote entrepreneurship skills among students. We want to ensure that the universities in the country become a centre of global excellence”, he said.
The Managing Director of Cognitive Advisory, Mr Tope Toogun, commended the stakeholders for bringing initiatives that will end unemployment in the country.
He disclosed that an industry advisory program should be set up to train new graduates and absolve them into working systems in the country.
Toogun noted that a large number of employment is in the private sector. “There should be synergy between the academia and the industry. We need to ensure that a large number of people can go into entrepreneurship and develop the economy. We need to create opportunities for local SMEs to thrive”, he said.
The Head of Global Lead, Education And Employability Advisory Manufacturing, Agribusiness And Services Department, IFC, Dina Nicholas, urged universities to maintain a relationship with industry leaders.
” The students can leverage such relationships and will be able to get jobs after graduating from school. It is important for University management to prioritise skills development”, she said.
The IFC expert said institutions of learning should possess relevant data and knowledge to determine the employability status of their students.
