Current educational system failing to produce employable talents – Tech stakeholders

Stakeholders in the technology sector on Thursday emphasised the need for updates in curricula of both secondary and tertiary institutions in the country.

The stakeholders made the call at the ongoing Nigeria FinTech Week at Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The three-day event, which began on Oct. 8 to end Oct. 10, has the theme: “Positioning Africa’s FinTech Ecosystem to Accelerate Inclusive Growth.”

They said that there was a mismatch between skills of graduates from institutions in the country and actual demands and needs in the job market.

Mr Wande Adams, Manager, Bulb Africa, a tech firm, said that the staggering number of unemployed graduates in Nigeria raised concerns.

Adams urged governments for an immediate overhaul of the education system to address the mismatch between skills and job market demands.

According to him, the current education system is failing to produce employable talents, while only a low percentage of graduates secure jobs within the first year of graduation.

“Nigerian graduates are about a million every year, and only about nine percent of them get jobs within the first year of graduation and the compulsory one year National Youth Service.

“That’s appalling and that speaks volumes about our unemployment number.

“If we do this every year about 90 per cent of graduates do not get jobs. It means that these schools are not putting out employable talents, rather there is a mismatch.

“The issue that we have is a lot of employers are looking for talents, while a lot of talents are looking for jobs,” he said.

Adams emphasised the need for curriculum updates and partnerships with tech hubs to provide training relevant to the modern job market.

“It’s astonishing that some computer engineering graduates can’t even write a simple line of code.

“We need to update our curricula and partner with tech hubs to ensure our graduates are job-ready,” he stressed.

The expert also noted that the Federal Government’s three million NTT technology initiative, though commendable, but did not go far enough.

“We need to start with basic elementary training and focus on building a strong foundation in technology.

“Our education system is the root cause of our unemployment crisis, and it’s time for a radical rethink,” he said.

Adams urged the government to address the mismatch between skills and job market demands.

He reiterated that by updating the curricula and partnering with tech hubs, Nigeria could start producing employable graduates and tackling the scourge of unemployment.

Another speaker, Mr Adewolu Adene, the Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Google, said that as Africa’s youth population continued to grow, economies across the continent must adapt to meet the changing demographics.

He noted that the growth of the young population presented both opportunities and challenges for economic growth.

“If our economy and youth population are not growing at the same rate, we will always have a problem, and the problem will be hard to tackle.

“As young population is growing and it will continue to grow, we should balance our unemployment rate with the economic growth of Africa,” he said.

Adene suggested that young people should have a mindset towards creating value and income after graduation.

He added that they should ensure they leveraged on the opportunities presented by globalisation and the digital economy.

“With the digital economy, you need just four people to produce a solution that can solve problems, unlike in a manufacturing company where you need over 30 employees.

“We need to understand the population demographics and align educational programmes with the demands of the digital economy.

“We need to update our curricula and partner with tech hubs to provide training relevant to the modern job market.

“As Africa’s youth population continues to grow, economies across the continent must prioritise adaptation and innovation to meet the changing demographics and create opportunities for employment and economic growth,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, Mrs Chinwe Uzoho, Regional Managing Director, West and Central Africa, Network International, said that technology had continued to advance at breakneck speed.

She noted that organisations should ensure to prioritise continuous learning and development to remain competitive.

Uzoho emphasised the importance of reskilling and upscaling to address the skills gap in the tech industry.

“Reskilling is about retraining on new skills relevant to the technology or environment, while upscaling is about acquiring certifications or education to compete effectively.

“However, many organisations are failing to conduct proper skill assessment processes to identify gaps and provide necessary training.

“As technology evolves daily, people must also retrain and acquire new skills to manage and innovate.

“We can’t separate the people from the technology.

“We need the right skills to compete and be innovative. Innovation is all about people, skills and technology coming together,” she said.

She highlighted the importance of Artificial Intelligence blockchain, machine learning, and data analysis in today’s tech landscape.

“Do we have the skills to look at the data and get insights? Organisations must invest in their people to thrive in this rapidly evolving tech landscape.

“By closing the skills gap and prioritising continuous learning and development, organisations can stay ahead of the curve and drive innovation in the tech industry,” Uzoho said.

Another speaker, Mr Adewale Adeyemi, Head, Business Development, Teknowledge, said that Africa had a lot of employment opportunities on its digital landscape.

“Technology in Africa is complex because we have lots of challenges but I see opportunities on our digital employment landscape.

“Challenges are part of what has been mentioned, our education system is still a bit disconnected from the business environment, so there is still a lot of learning that needs to be done.

“The opportunities for us in order to integrate in all of these things is that we can change our environment and also we change our curriculum to meet our needs, but also businesses can do a lot of training in planning for the future.

“I work with technology hubs everyday, we are six thousand across the world both technical and non-technical.

“When training for non-technical it takes about two weeks, but for technical personnel it takes about six weeks to three months,” he said.

Adeyemi called for continuous training by employers, noting that this was necessary as the digital space was not static.

“Some business owners worry that when they train people, they leave. But we have to see it that when we train people we are enriching the ecosystem and it is helping the business environment,” he said.