The increasing population of graduate unemployment across the country is partly the fault of most universities, which pay little or no emphasis on the acquisition of hands-on skills required to become self-reliant and employers of labour, Chief Samuel Maduka Onyishi has said.
Onyishi, Chairman/Founder of Peace Mass Transit (PMT), made these remarks while fielding questions from journalists at the weekend.
The business mogul, whose foray into the road transportation business where he has recorded giant strides these past decades regretted that the education system of the country is in comatose, a development, which is negatively impacting the outputs from institutions.
With Nigeria’s over 200 universities, unemployment rate of about 33.3 percent, a fast-growing population, and difficulties experienced by students in gaining admission into public universities, Chief Onyishi believes there is room for more private universities like his Sam Maduka University, whose formal launch is scheduled to hold in a matter of months. But his is not meant to just add to the numbers.
According to him, the new university was designed to address the failings of the existing institutions, especially in the area of addressing unemployment problems in the country.
“The vision is to have a citadel of learning in all ramifications, founded on the best principles and run on the best ethical practices,” he assured, even as he maintained that the institution is determined to build structures that would stand the test of time.
Besides, Sam Maduka University will make its graduates become employers of labour rather than being job seekers, irrespective of their course of study.
“People should be able to go to school and come out of school. If you get employed somewhere, it’s good, but even if you don’t get a job, you should be able to employ yourself,” he said.
“I am laying a foundation for self-reliance because my university is an entrepreneurial university. The plan is that any graduate of our university should be able to run his or her own business, the course the graduate read, notwithstanding,” he stressed.
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The PMT boss added: “So if you are reading history in our university, you should read history and leave the school and be able to employ yourself. If you are reading health sciences or law, you should be able to read all those courses and be able to employ yourself.”
Speaking on his strategies, the PMT Onyishi maintained that the university’s academic curricular would be structured to include entrepreneurial and vocational courses which will be compulsory for all students in the university, irrespective of course of study.
“We are going to teach you all these courses in a manner that, by the time you come out of the university, you should be a lawyer that can employ yourself. You should be a lawyer for wealth creation or history for self-employment or self-reliance.
“The long-term goal is human capital development – providing a platform for people to acquire knowledge – and then, take care of themselves,” Onyishi further explained.
Located along Nsukka road, Ekwegbe, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, the university is expected to begin academic activities later this year.
Already the building of massive infrastructure on the over 300 hectres acquired by the university, with more lands still being acquired, is in progress. “I hope to engage experienced teachers and I have got enough infrastructure to take off,” he said.