Prepare graduates for workplace, Nexford founder urges

The founder of Nexford University, Fadl Al Tarzi, has stressed the need to produce graduates that can meet up with the demands of labour market.

Al Tarzi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the university, gave the charge in a statement released to newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday.

According to him, lack of required skills was an impediment for many youths to secure their desired jobs in the global labour market.

“With the rapid advancement of tech, skills are the only barrier between ambitious youths across the world and attractive economic opportunities. Our next-generation university focuses on precisely this,” Al Tarzi said.

The statement from the university partly reads: “Worldwide, young people are three times more likely than their parents to be out of work. Jobless levels of 25 percent or more are common in Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa.

“In the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, more than one in eight of all 15 to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education, or training.

“Around the world, the International Labour Organisation estimates that 75 million young people are unemployed. Including estimates of underemployed youth would potentially triple this number. This represents not just a gigantic pool of untapped talent; it is also a source of social unrest and individual despair.”

Also commenting, Nexford’s Manager in Nigeria, Olamidun Majekodunmi, urged local universities to abandon the legacy approach and educate students based on the skills workplaces seek.