Orji Kalu: Stop blaming Buhari for unemployment, many lecturers incompetent to produce skilled graduates

Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, has urged Nigerians to stop blaming President Muhammadu Buhari or the legislature for the country’s high unemployment rate.

Kalu said many university graduates were poorly trained and not imparted with required skills to fit into labour market.

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The former Abia State governor spoke Tuesday in Abuja at the opening of a Graduate Skills Training (GST) programme, organized by Terra Skills, a technology firm.

He stressed the need for equipping graduates on requisite skills to make them employable and productive, saying some of what is learnt in the universities were not useful in the labour market.

“We should not blame President Muhammadu Buhari or the national assembly over the high rate of unemployment in the country which is causing insecurity. I’ve been a governor,  so I know what I am talking about.

“Most of our graduates are not properly trained for the jobs. That’s why there is insecurity. Everything is not on Buhari or the National Assembly. It is because most people are not groomed properly for leadership.

“Going to the university is not enough because most of these lecturers don’t even know what they are teaching you. I became an entrepreneur before I went into politics and I am still the chief adviser of my companies that employ over 13,000 people. So, I know what I am talking about,” Kalu said.

The Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, who is also the founder of TerraSkills, said it took them three years of research to come up with the graduate skills training programme.

He said, “This is not about making money, but about developing human capital. Many graduates don’t have the skills. I’ve told the staff that anyone that is not trainable, after two weeks, his money should be refunded because he or she doesn’t have a place here.

“The essence is to improve the productivity of companies in Nigeria. We also want to help reduce the number of graduates without jobs in the country. We will continue to equip the graduates with the necessary skills to fit in the job environment.”