The way work is done has changed and is still changing but unfortunately, the way we are taught and what we are taught in our schools remains the same.
For example, you can still use your grandfather’s lecture notes to pass an exam tomorrow if he happened to study what you are presently studying.
I hardly know any young graduate who is gainfully employed. If you travel through different states in Nigeria, you will see young men just sitting outside, wasting away.
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One of the reasons is that most graduates do not fit into the present sophisticated work environment. Another reason is that when there is a vacancy for a software specialist in Lagos, while Chinedu, a graduate of Federal Polytechnic, Nekede is submitting a CV, Chan from China is also applying for the same job.
Your competitor is no longer Femi from Kwara State Polytechnic or Mohammed from Bayero University but you are now in a global competition where most of the foreign applicants are highly skilled.
While you are still looking for a cardboard paper and a blade to sharpen your pencil to draw an engine in an interview, they have given the employer a masterpiece with software you know nothing about, and all you get is ‘we will get back to you’, a bottle of water and meat pie for coming.
Another factor is the impression of developed countries about our education. No matter your profession, it is not an easy task getting a job abroad.
A few weeks ago, an American Vice-chancellor Prof. Gamalier O. Prince said: ‘People in Nigeria are getting expired education. That is why you see people who studied engineering but are not able to do engineering feats.
You see people who studied computer science and are not able to understand anything or diagnose computer language and what have you’. This is because Nigeria’s educational system is dilapidated.
It is your responsibility to train yourself. Education is no longer in the classroom. It is now inside the plane or Keke, office or farm, hotel or kitchen.
Don’t go about anointing certificates if you don’t have valuable skills.
- Dr Oluwole Femi, the president and founder of Global Impact Initiative and Fando Health Management, wrote from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital
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