Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) Prof. Mohammad Haruna has urged the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to review the curriculum for entrepreneurship courses to address the nation’s unemployment crisis.
Haruna said graduates “are jobless because of misalignment between products of our tertiary institutions and the limited job market.”
The NASENI boss spoke Tuesday at the groundbreaking of the permanent site of NASENI Skill Acquisition Centre in Gwantu Kurmi in Sanga local government area of Kaduna state by the state’s deputy governor, Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe.
Haruna said the ongoing building of skill acquisition centres nationwide was aimed at tackling youth unemployment and industrial development.
“May I use this opportunity to reiterate and call on the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to overhaul the curriculum used in teaching Entrepreneurship courses.
“Most tertiary institutions in Nigeria have no qualified lecturers and enabling environment to teach entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a practical course taught only by practicing entrepreneurs.
“Experts in management sciences and marketing with no training in entrepreneurship are not qualified to teach entrepreneurship courses.
“NASENI skill development centres across the nations will collaborate with willing tertiary institutions in their catchment areas to bridge this gap,” he said.
On the Gwantu Kurmi skill centre, he said: “This skill development centre will train and develop middle level manpower with focus on employability in selected occupational areas, provide and improve training standards and ensure that the right technical and vocational skills needed by the local industries are available.
“It will also focus on empowering the youths with two multiple technical and entrepreneurial skills for job mobility and wealth creation, and certify the skills and competences of the trainees for fair share of the labour market.
“The NASENI Skill acquisition centre in Gwantu also demonstrates government commitment to the development of the technology base of the nation. The impact of the centre will lead to reduction in rural-urban migration; it would reduce youth restiveness; promote agro-allied businesses and generally enhance security in the southern Kaduna area of this state.”
