By Thomas Abi Jr |12 August 2015 |5:30am
The problem of unemployment has remained as a national song across the nation. It is unfortunate that the rate of unemployment is on the increase as graduates leave the university on a yearly basis.
Statistics has it that over 500, 000 to one million students graduate yearly without jobs in the country increasing the number of jobless Nigerians on the streets looking for a means of livelihood.
The unemployment in Cross River State is one that gives me great concern and I must say I practically blame it on our institutions who have allowed corruption to get into the system. It is rather unfortunate that schools in Cross River State have followed suit in bribe taking otherwise known as 'sorting', which has aided the unemployment level drastically. Why do I say so? It has because students no longer read. They see attending schools for certificates that would qualify them for jobs. And those who are opportuned to get jobs have to undergo rigorous training at their places of employment.
The truth is our schools have failed us. Government and the educational institutions must sit up to their responsibilities in giving our students the best. The issue of half baked graduates in the State is as a result of the poor infrastructure facilities in the institutions. From our primary schools , our schools are in a sorry State. Let it be known that the primary school is the foundation for learning and acquiring of knowledge. Once your foundation is not solid you can not do well. By so doing it goes on and on up to the secondary school which is even worse because our secondary schools are poorly equipped and have poor man power. The teachers lack the proper teaching environment and in turn the students lack the enabling environment for knowledge to be impacted into them. It is rather unfortunate that things are the way there are but if we love our children we must do something immediately about the state of our education which has aided the high increase in unemployment.
The mass failure of students in the recent WAEC results that was released shows we are not there yet. Our students are not well prepared and go into examinations as half baked and charlatans who are not knowledgeable on the curriculum or syllabus as it implies the subject.
Another big problem increasing unemployment in Cross River is the endless strikes experienced in the State. Lecturers of the State-owned University were on strike for over 5 months. The lecturers are not paid their salaries which led to the long strike in the State. Let it is also be on record that due to the poor morale of the lecturers, they have created a means of collecting mandatory fees from their students in order to pass them and in some cases they sleep with female students. It has really aided unemployment because our students now have apathy to learning. A lot of laxity is seen in our educational education.
For Cross River State to have a remarkably freedom from unemployment, the government must as a matter of urgency, improve on the declining standard of education, as well as formulate policies that will improve on the standard of education by way of introducing skilled based learning from the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the State.
The Governor, Senator Prof. Ben Ayade and his deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu are from the academic world . What I expect in the days ahead are policies and programmes that will aid our pupils and students discover their academic potentials early in life as well as improve the syllabus of our education system by way of adopting the Chinese curriculum.
Cross River State should be creating jobs by enhancing and building man power through education instead of depending solely on government for jobs.
The Cross River State of my dream is a State where our children will be employers of labor right from the secondary or tertiary environment.
I call on parents, civil societies, government, religious body and the general public to come together in helping the State in winning against the high level of poverty caused by our poor educational system.
Prince Thomas Abi Jr.
Is a Public Affairs Analyst /Social Commentator
