The Nation Newspaper

Tag: graduates

  • Graduates need more that skills to survive

    It has been asserted that compulsive quest for material acquisitions, stagnation of national development, as well as wrong corporate and economic decisions will persist in the country, until tertiary institutions nurture not only the intellect, but build the characters of the young minds and empower them with the moral force to resist tendency towards moral infractions.

    Provost, Federal College of Education [Special], Oyo, Professor Adeyemi Usman, made the assertion in Oyo town at a sensitisation forum.

    Prof. Usman said the country is in dire need of students who would become employers of labour. In addition, he stressed that the criteria required to succeed are people who are adequately imbibed with basic moral principles and not just entrepreneurial skills.

  • OAU graduates 6827 students

    OAU graduates 6827 students

    The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, commenced her 42nd Convocation Ceremonies for undergraduates and postgraduate students on Wednesday with 6827 students graduating.

    The Acting Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Anthony Elujoba who presided over the ceremony gave an very insightful lecture on “The philosophy of doing things right.”

    He remarked in his lecture that most of the problems encountered, not only by the university but the country is the failure in doing things right which has been the source of most problems.

    While highlighting his numerous challenges as well as the successes during his administration, he stated that he belonged to no camp as he prefers to assume a neutral stance.

    “I belong to no camp, nor party. Everyone is my friend.  I have no foe. It has been a sleepless challenge to serve as VC for the past four months. However, we need to put the past behind us and look forward to growth whilst making truth and faith our watchword, “Professor Elujoba stated.

    He also stated  that the university had been peaceful and accountable under his four month watch and pleaded for peace and cooperation amongst sister unions for the purpose of a smooth transition at the end of his six months acting tenure.

  • 200,000 hired graduates have resumed, says Presidency

    The Presidency said yesterday that the first batch of 200,000 unemployed graduates hired under the N-Power scheme had resumed and posted to the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Senior Special Assistant to Vice President Laolu Akande said the programme had begun and that the states were in the process of deploying those selected to their primary places of assignment.

    He said those deployed could work as teachers, agricultural extension educators, community health care programmes, among others.

    “So, deployment is going on about this time and we still have 300,000 more to do.

    “The idea is to engage the youth, the unemployed graduates and give them some training, some values.

    “Prepare them so that at the end of the two years they will become more empowered to go forward with their lives.

    “Hopefully, by that time we would have created more permanent jobs working with the private sector,’’ he added.

    Akande said that the N-Power scheme was not a permanent job creation but a palliative for the jobless.

    He said there was also plan by government to engage 100,000 or more non-graduates.

    He added that government was developing policies and working with the private sector to develop an enabling environment that would revatilise the economy and create more sustainable employments

    He added that all 500,000 graduates to be employed under the scheme would be provided with tablet devices to equip them with new skills.

    Akande told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja that that the provision of the tablet devices would enable the graduates to be skillful, knowledgeable and empowered in their own area of specialization.

    Akande said this was part of the present administration’s plan to tackle massive youth unemployment under its social investment programmes by hiring of 500,000 unemployed graduates and 100, 000 for non-graduates

    ”So, everybody that is selected will go into the programme and spend two years. In those two years, number one, they will be trained, so that they can become more employable.

    “Number two, they will be exposed to skills that can even  turn them into entrepreneurs. Number three, in their engagement they will be contributing to their own community.

    “So they will get a sense of not only adding value but also adding value within their community. Of cause this a volunteer scheme.

    “But government will be paying them a stipend of N30,000 monthly and then each of them will also get a device that will have a lot of apps (applications) in it.

    “These are the apps that will be used to train them to be skilled and all kinds of knowledge that can actually empower them.”

  • Job tools for correctional centre graduates

    Wife of Lagos State governor Mrs Bolanle Ambode has inaugurated the Correctional Centre for Junior Boys on Birrel Street,  Sabo, Yaba.

    The centre was built by the Ministry of Youth and Social Development.

    Graduates of some correctional centres in the state were given job tools during the event.

    Mrs Ambode said the facility would have multiple effects on the society and ensure a more secured and conducive environment for children.

    She said: ‘’This project is a fulfilment of a core promise of the administration, which is to develop and promote the well-being of children. It will ensure a more secured environment for the children and improved service delivery by the staff.

    ‘’Our state is not immune to social challenges but the government is always doing the needful to get the right focus for the children and the youths. I, therefore, urge them to make a good use of those tools and make the best use of the opportunity to explore their full potential. Let me add that the government will continue to promote  the well-being of children, particularly the less privileged.’’

    Commissioner for Youth and Social Development Princess Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf said: “Majority of the wards here present have been exposed to social vices due to their interactions with criminally minded adults on the streets and faulty parenting, before they were rescued and placed under the care and protection of the state government.

    ‘’The presentation of these basic  starter tools to these wards is a step in the direction as it will get them started on the right path in life  and engender success in their respective vocations.’’

  • Industry- compliant graduates

    One of the expected responses I got to my last week’s piece on the need to stop teaching typing skills with typewriters in schools was from someone who sells the outdated machine I wrote about.

    He was alarmed that my view on the matter was capable of spoiling his business and had to call me to probably disabuse my mind against the continuous use of typewriters.

    However, by the time we ended the brief discussion on the issue, he agreed that it was a matter of time before he will stop getting patronage for the purchase and repair of the machines.

    Like I told him and he agreed, typewriters have no place in the present and future of processing and documentation of information. Notwithstanding the challenges of using computers, including lack of regular electricity supply, school authorities have no excuse to retain manual trying in the curriculum for secondary and technical school students.

    Just last week, the Lagos a State government announced plans to train  about one million students on technology coding under its Cope Lagos programme. If the Lagos State government aims to train students in coding on computer, while should typewriters still be a training tool in any secondary school.

    My concern again on this matter is the need for constant review of the curriculum for training students at all levels in the country. Authorities responsible for school curriculum must be conversant with changes in the society and reflect same in what students are taught if we really want them to match the exploits of their contemporaries globally.

    Giving the right atmosphere and resources to learn, our youths will excel like their counterparts elsewhere. Instead of sticking to old ways of doing things, our curriculum must be flexible and we must be ready to leap frog to join the race on the information super highway.

    For teachers to be able to meet up the demands of training the present generation of students and help them maximise their potentials, teachers and lecturers must also be willing to update their knowledge. The knowledge of yesteryears is not enough. The new definition of education for all is the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn.

    My first son once told me about one of their lecturers who usually boasts of teaching with the notes he wrote decades ago. The students were not impressed. They were able to prove to the lecturer the needed  to update his note when one of the students asked what period he was referring to as ‘recent times’ in decade-old note in 2013.

    I usually interact with Mass Communication students and I am shocked that some of the courses they are taking are not much different in content compared with what I learnt over thirty years ago. How are they expected to get employed in media houses when the changes in the industry are not well reflected in what they are taught?

    The need for constant gown and town interaction cannot be overemphasized if graduates of higher institutions are expected to be industry compliant.

  • A mark by pioneer graduates

    A mark by pioneer graduates

    Four years after its inception, McPherson Univerisity in Seriki Sotayo, Ogun State, has unveiled its pioneer graduates. Of the 39 graduands, eight made first class, reports WALE AJETUNMOBI.

    A 20-year-old girl, Temiloluwa Sholola, was the overall Best Graduating Student at the maiden convocation of McPherson University (McU) in Seriki Sotayo, Ogun State last Saturday. She scored a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.81.

    Temiloluwa, who graduated from the Department of Accounting and Finance, beat seven others to receive multiple academic honours for her feat. She described her achievement as reward for hard work.

    The quiet village of Seriki Sotayo, the school’s host community, was agog when the university unveiled its pioneer graduates. Of the 42 students admitted by the school at inception, 39 graduated from its eight departments.

    The convocation was graced by former Head of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Chief Audu Ogbeh and representatives of Ogun State government.

    The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Adeniyi Agunbiade, said the exceptional performance of the graduands may not be unconnected with the institution’s culture of rewarding excellent students. The gesture, he said, led to healthy competition among students.

    He said: “Our pioneer graduates have laid the foundation for excellence and good character in learning by their collective achievement and individual feats. We have equipped them with quality knowledge to make them stand out among their peers and we have no doubt these graduands will go into the world and soar.”

    Urging the graduates to be good ambassadors of the school, Prof Agunbiade said the graduands were trained to be job creators who would create values and opportunities for the nation’s economy to flourish.

    He said: “You have toiled and worked very hard. You have persevered, and with determination you have achieved the success we are all celebrating today. As you go into the world, remember to be good and worthy ambassadors of the university. By the training you have received, I have no doubt in my mind that you can succeed wherever you find yourselves. The entrepreneurial instincts already imbued in you should be deployed to make you become the job providers we have trained you to be.”

    The VC reeled out landmark developments in the school in the last four years, noting that the varsity is developing faster in academic and physical aspects.

    The school’s Visitor and General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church of Nigeria, Reverend Felix Meduoye, said the school was unique among faith-based universities, because it was not established to make profit.

    Meduoye said the church had been giving scholarship and subsidising tuition for indigent students, who wished to study in the school. He called on corporate firms and non-governmental organisations to support the school with endowment to improve its physical facilities and academics.

    Ogbeh, represented by his Director for Rural Development, Mr Ola Akeju, delivered the maiden convocation lecture with the theme: Food security and terrorism: Way out for Nigeria.

    Ogbeh identified climate change and terrorism as major factors causing food insecurity in the nation, noting that Federal Government had introduced long-term measures to tackle the challenges.

    He said: “The remedial actions for addressing these challenges are enunciated in ‘the Green Alternative’ policy we introduced. The policy seeks adoption of climate-smart agriculture through public awareness and promotion of innovative agricultural practices. It seeks improvement in land, water, soil and natural resources management.

    “If the policy is fully implemented, it would strengthen institutional linkages and partnerships for the implementation of climate-smart agricultural governance, legislation and finance. It would also promote the use of renewable energy in collaboration with the private sector and adopt global best practices on climate change, including adaptation, mitigation and carbon credit.”

  • Fed Govt hires 200,000 graduates 

    Fed Govt hires 200,000 graduates 

    Two hundred thousand graduates have been hired by the Federal Government as part of the N-Power Volunteer Corps which will ultimately engage 500,000 graduates.

    Those engaged will resume on December 1 in the states where they will be deployed.

    The new employees are distributed as follows: 150,000 as teachers, 30,000 to work in the agriculture sector and 20,000 in healthcare delivery. They will cover three specific programme assignments, according to the Presidency.

    According to Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Laolu Akande, they were employed two weeks ago and their names have been sent to states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where they will be deployed to their specific assignments.

    The names will be published this week on the N-Power internet portal. They are expected to start receiving SMS messages informing them of their selection as from today.

    Akande said: “State governments and the FCT are also encouraged to post the names of the successful first batch applicants in their local government areas while there would be further public announcements.

    “Between now and the end of the month, the states and the FCT would be engaged in deploying the graduates who would formally start working and earning their stipends on December 1, 2016.”

    According to him, the N-Power Volunteer Corps is an expression of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to invest in the human capital development of Nigerian citizens, particularly the young people.

    The N-Power programmme, Akande said, is also an innovative means to enhance ailing public services in the area of basic education and primary healthcare.

    “Also in the agric sector, it is aimed at achieving self-sufficiency by giving our farmers relevant advisory services.”

    Akande said the Federal Government was encouraging the successful applicants to take the opportunity serious by learning the skills that will brighten their future.

    He added: “They are also implored to serve their communities with commitment and dedication.

    “For those who have not been selected at this time, there is a waiting list based on the total number of applicants, and subsequent batches will absorb more of the qualified applicants.

    “All together, the N-Power will engage and train 500,000 young unemployed graduates. It is a paid volunteering programme of a two-year duration that engages graduates in their immediate communities, where they will assist in improving the inadequacies in the education, health, and agriculture sectors.

    “The 500,000 graduates under the N-Power Corps programme will be trained in skills that will enable them exit after two years to economically viable jobs and business opportunities.

    “As part of the programme, the participnts would own tablets that will contain information necessary for their specific engagements, as well as information for their continuous training and developments.

    “Participants will be provided teaching, instructional, and advisory solutions in four main focus areas, and will be paid a monthly stipend of N30,000 during the programme.

    “The four main focus areas are in basic education, agriculture extension services, public health and community education (civic and adult education).”

    Besides the N-Power programme for undergraduates, Akande said there are other schemes for non-graduates, including N-Power Knowledge, which would select 25,000 young Nigerians and N-Power Build 75,000, all of whom shall be trained and paid during the duration of the scheme.

  • Training opens new vista for fresh graduates

    Training opens new vista for fresh graduates

    Tommorrow, fresh graduates from various backgrounds would graduate from a three-month ICT programme tagged Lagos Study Programme and sponsored by the Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment.

    They are the pilot beneficiaries of the project which seeks to equip them with skills to fill the manpower gap for programmers locally.

    The initiative was done in collaboration with Andela Consulting, Google, Microsoft, Sterling Bank and Etisalat, and implemented by Audax Solutions Ltd, which carried out the training at its lekki office for the first batch of 100 trainees selected from the Lagos Island division of the state.

    The participants, who had reduced to about 78 by week six, were exposed to design, HTML and CSS, digital marketing, coding, basic algorithm, scripting, word press, and dynamic web application projects, among others.

    Project Manager, Vivian Ezinne Ubochi, said the trainees were a mixture of those without prior knowledge of programming and those with a level of awareness of the concept.

    She said the training was carried out using world class curriculum that allowed students to learn at their own pace and make progress as they completed assigned projects.

    She praised the tenacity and dedication of the participants, who she said exceeded her expectations.

    “They come every day from 9-5pm.  I did not expect them to be this serious.  They come early and when it is 5pm they don’t want to go.  Lagos has really achieved with this programme.  If this continues, it will really help the state develop,” she said.

    Ubochi also said high-performing students would get a chance to intern in firms that are impressed with their work at a job fair that would feature as part of their graduation from the programme.

    Some participants told The Nation the programme was a life-changing one for them as it provided new direction for varied careers.  They also appreciated the transparent selection process which did not favour ethnitism or connections but an interest in ICT, place of residence, and time of graduation.

    Wofai Ibiang, a Supply Chain Management graduate from East Anglia University, United Kingdom, said she applied for the programme to learn to build apps to solve problems she has already identified and expressed satisfaction with what she got from the training.

    “I’ve always wanted to build my own website and apps.  I have learnt quite a lot coming here.  I’ll say I have been very impressed; my expectations have been met.  I think the skills I have gained will help me know how to go about my dreams,” she said.

    Frank Uchendu, a Computer Technology graduate of Babcock University, said the programme built on the basics he learnt in school.

    “I have got to learn a lot more than what we did in school because it is hands on.  It is a self-paced programme so you read, and practicalise.  It is about using your own means to find solutions to problems you are given to solve.  For you to move to the next challenge, you have to finish the particular task at hand,” he said.

    For Sociology graduate, Tinuola Olowoyeye, the programme gave her opportunity to strengthen her foray into IT, which was fueled by a short work-experience as a marketer in an IT firm.

    “I felt I could do more.  The experience has been lovely.  Before now, when I picked my computer, it was just for Facebook, Twitter, Google search.  But now I can build a website; I can use HTML, CSS, Java Script.

    “After the programme, if I have all the facilities I need, I want to work on my own, no need to look for job,” she said.

     

  • Utilise services of PAP graduates, Boroh tells oil firms

    The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd.) has enjoined major oil and gas companies to use the services of those trained in specialised skills in the oil and gas areas under the programme.

    Boroh spoke in Abuja when he visited the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru.

    The presidential aide said 6,505 trained delegates could close existing manpower gaps in the sector with expertise in various areas of the industry.

    Addressing the imperatives for local content in the oil and gas sector, Boroh said the delegates had demonstrated a knack for excellence and were positioned to make meaningful contributions to improve service delivery in the industry.

    The PAP coordinator said his visit to the NNPC Towers centred on special employment considerations for the programme’s graduates in international oil companies in the region.

    He said their jobs would fast-track the reintegration of beneficiaries into civil life and living a violence-free life.

    Boroh described some of the delegates as First and Second Class awardees, who had shown extra-ordinary commitment to further develop their careers in companies or sub-contracting companies operating in Niger Delta.

    Fourteen of the delegates were said to have graduated with First Class/Distinction and 33 others with Second Class Upper/Merit.

    Baru expressed concerns over reduced oil production because of vandalism, piracy, militancy and illegal bunkering.

    The NNPC chief hailed the PAP Office for combating the vices by deploying skills development for thousands of youths in the Niger Delta.

    He expressed optimism that the skills acquired by the delegates in oil and gas would be a huge asset to the nation.

     

  • College pioneer graduates counselled on conduct

    Pioneer graduands of the Divine Blessing Bible College and Seminary (DBBCS) of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Alagbado, Lagos, have been reminded of their role as ambassadors of the college.

    They are, therefore, urged to carry themselves with poise.

    The institution’s Rector Mrs. Olufunmilayo Odeyinka, gave the advice during the maiden graduation of 30 students of the institution, which held at the church main auditorium.

    Presenting scrolls graduands for the awards of Certificate in Theology , Odeyinkacongratulated the recipients on choosing the right path to serve God.

    “To achieve great success as ministers of God, you need to be diligent in your daily Bible study and research, live the word of God to the letter, as well as pursue continuous self-improvement,” Odeyinka said.

    Mrs Odeyinka, urged the graduands to be loyal stewards of Jesus Christ, saying they should be active in evangelism and soul winning, and focused on doing God’s will.

    The Grand Patron of the college Mr. Remi Awode, recalled how the institution was established last year to offer sound understanding of the scripture, which according to him, is the sword of the spirit needed in populating God’s kingdom.

    “Excellence in academic cannot be achieved without paying for it, Awode said, adding: “This you have done and today we are celebrating you after the rigorous experience and toiling.’’

    Awode praised the teaching and non-teaching workers for what he described as their efforts in providing knowledge and skills required in ensuring that institution produced its first fruits.

    The high points of the ceremony was the presentation of certificates, prizes to the best graduand, and gifts to some lecturers for their efficient service delivery.

    In his graduation message, the Dean of Academics, C.A.C. Bible College and Seminary, Idimu, Lagos Pastor Shallom Olayinka, described the pioneer set as ‘eagles being released to spread the gospel.’

    “As a mouthpiece of Jesus Christ, you should be careful about the way you use your life and spend your time, because a new role is a calling, which you should not do in your own way, but in the light of truth,” Olayinka advised.