Over the last three decades, Nigeria has made significant progress in educational attainment, with a growing portion of the population graduating from tertiary institutions. Despite these recent positive developments, Nigerian-trained graduates face significant challenges in securing jobs. A key reason for this is the lack of employability skills among graduates. The outdated education curricula, which emphasise theoretical knowledge at the expense of practical skills and market demands, hinder graduates' ability to thrive in the modern job market.

Unlike the early 80s, where a university degree almost guaranteed an easy transition into a white-collar job in Nigeria, today's reality proves different, as more than just a degree is required to transition into the modern work environment.  Annually, over 1.5 million applicants sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, with 40% admitted into various universities. The remaining 60% of the total is distributed across the country's polytechnics and colleges of education. This reflects a significant influx of graduates into the labour market, outpacing the limited skilled jobs and creating a disparity between the supply and demand for skilled labour in the country. 

This disparity, coupled with the changing skill demands in the modern workplace, also highlights a crucial gap in graduate employability, underscoring the need for educational reforms to harmonise what is taught in school and the skills demanded in the labour market.

Issues at Hand

Today's technological advancements have disrupted many traditional employment options, portraying the modern work environment as fast and highly dynamic, thus impacting the demand for skilled labour. With over 200 million people and a mean age average of 17.5, Nigeria presents a formidable workforce that could drive economic growth and development. However, most of this workforce lacks the skills to successfully navigate the modern job market. A report from the National Bureau of Statistics in 2022 shows that 53.40% of youths in Nigeria are unemployed; this includes graduates. According to the Nigeria Graduate Report, a significant percentage of recent graduates find it difficult to secure employment, with HND graduates affected the most, as evidenced by Figure 1 below.

The dichotomy between BSc and HND graduates remains a contributing factor, evidenced by employers' preference for BSc holders over HND holders. This is common in the banking sector, where appointment into top management positions favours BSc holders over HND holders. Aside from employer preference, the postsecondary unemployment rate generally ranks highest in Nigeria, as shown in Figure 2 below.  

According to this study, the average Nigerian graduate lacks modern industry skills or competencies to compete for available jobs. In today's job market, employers require a range of skills to stay competitive. Such skills include technical expertise, digital literacy, research abilities, critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication. Many Nigerian-trained graduates also struggle with skills such as entrepreneurship, business development, adaptability, leadership, and teamwork, which may hinder their employment prospects.

Industry Demand Skills and Employability

Certain skills help graduates stand out during job searches and position them for long-term career success. These include technical and digital skills, research and development, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

• Technical and digital skills: According to a report from the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), 85% of Nigerian graduates have no digital skills and cannot use basic office software like Microsoft Word and Excel, standard digital tools used in the corporate environment. The report further revealed that over 100 million young people are unprepared to take up jobs requiring digital skills. A high correlation between lack of digital skills and unemployment among Nigerian-trained graduates, particularly among STEM graduates, can be established. Acquiring digital skills will significantly improve the chances of employment in high-earning occupations such as data analysis, coding, or web marketing. Moreover, accounting, design, engineering, and economics graduates with command over industry-specific software packages like SAP, Stata, and AutoCAD have a competitive advantage in the job market.

• Research and development: The demand for researchers is rising across all sectors of the economy, as research plays a critical role in idea development, innovation, identifying customer needs, and enhancing operational efficiency within organisations. Additionally, research skills are crucial for strategic decision-making, validating why employers actively seek graduates with strong research capabilities when recruiting. Preferences like this are shared among agriculture, manufacturing, economics, and technology organisations because it is critical to driving organisational growth. The lack of quality research skills contributes to graduate unemployment, particularly in the global job market, where Nigerian-trained graduates often find themselves at a disadvantage compared to their foreign-trained counterparts when competing for high-paying positions in leading organisations.

• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills: The modern workplace presents complex challenges requiring critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The ability to analyse complex situations and provide practical solutions is valuable in the job market. Employers argue that 60% of Nigerian-trained graduates lack critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, which are essential for adapting and operating optimally in a dynamic work environment. Without them, graduates may struggle. Thus, it is imperative that all intending graduates aspiring to join the corporate environment develop critical thinking and problem-solving abilities by being open-minded and adopting reflective thinking, reasoned judgment, and research to enhance their chances of gaining employment.

• Leadership and adaptability: Many institutions of higher learning in Nigeria try to imbibe leadership attributes in intending graduates by encouraging student union governments and similar institutions. However, many graduates have failed to demonstrate this crucial skill in the job market. Employers look out for leadership abilities in potential employees, associating leadership with attributes such as confidence, competence, efficiency, and self-efficacy. Also, the hope that employed graduates will grow to become future leaders who will manage organisational resources and make strategic decisions makes leadership a high-demand skill for employment. Moreover, organisations seek to engage graduate applicants who can adapt, navigate, and effectively respond to changes, such as technological, market, or industrial. Leadership and adaptability remain critical for management and business growth and, thus, vital to improving graduate employability. 

The Way Forward

Preparing graduates for the ever-evolving job market and tackling youth unemployment remains a formidable concern for the Nigerian government. This is evident in various interventions aimed at reducing youth unemployment and bridging digital literacy gaps, which have contributed to the erosion of career readiness among graduates. The most outstanding among these interventions, given the nature of the modern job market, is the establishment of digital economy centres by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The initiative targets to create digital jobs (wealth), develop valuable skills for employment, and connect undeserving areas to broadband internet. It also aims to develop training and professional programs that promote self-employment and entrepreneurship and offer digital job-orientated courses such as e-commerce, retail management, and web design. Other similar interventions include the Digital Nigeria Programme (DNP), Human Capacity Development Programme (HCDP), and National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), which hold similar objectives.

Alongside the digital interventions, the government has initiated programmes, including Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWIN!), N-Power, and the Social Protection Program in collaboration with UNICEF. These initiatives aim to enhance job prospects for unemployed graduates by providing job opportunities, skills development, entrepreneurship training, vocational training, scholarships, and apprenticeships. 

While interventions like the digital economy centres and the 3 million Tech Talent initiative, which aims to bridge the global talent deficit in technology and benefit 85 million Nigerian youth by 2030, are promising, it is essential to align industry demands with academic curricula to enhance graduate competitiveness in the job market. The government can adopt stringent measures such as introducing digital internships and expanding work placement programs so that students can familiarise themselves with the industry before entering the labour market. Initiatives such as the Andela Technical Leadership Program, the Google Africa Developer Scholarship (GADS), the HNG internship, and the TalentQL fellowship prove this possible. These programs equip participants with technical skills for navigating the tech industry and provide hands-on experience that can lead to job placement after graduation. The outcomes of these programs have been positive, especially in training skilled software engineers proficient in essential programming languages like Python, JavaScript, and more. It has also increased remote job placement, thereby setting its graduates up as competent professionals.

Another option for consideration is a collaboration between captains of industry, labour employers, and educational authorities to design or update the curriculum used by institutions of higher learning. This has been tried in a few countries and proven to be effective. For instance, the Germany Dual Education Model combines theoretical education with hands-on work experience through apprenticeship. Companies work directly with educational institutions to ensure the curriculum is relevant to industry demand. Another example is the Switzerland Vocational Education and Training model (VET), which blends classroom learning with workplace training. This is achieved through collaboration between businesses, educational institutions, and the government. The partnership allows students to gain direct experience in industries peculiar to their field.

Generally, these models have proven very effective, as over 70% of young people, including post-secondary graduates, in these countries possess significant skills that align with industry demands, validating these models as options for Nigeria to adopt.

Recent developments show that earning a degree in Nigeria no longer guarantees a smooth transition into a white-collar job due to the evolving demands of the modern corporate environment. To remain competitive, Nigerian graduates must acquire in-demand skills such as technical proficiency, digital literacy, research and development, critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication. Additionally, the government could enhance graduate employability by adopting successful models like Germany’s Dual Education System and Switzerland’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) program, which align educational curricula with industry needs.

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