The issue of growing rate of graduate unemployment in the country which has consistently generated a lot of heated debates within various sectors of the economy is a situation students believe would be curbed once the new entrepreneurship studies introduced by National Universities Commission (NUC) in Nigerian universities is properly harnessed.
In their various summations, they observed that the aim of the course is to make undergraduates self-reliant and employers of labour instead of looking for the unavailable white collar jobs, adding that it would also equip undergraduates with skills in addition to their core courses.
A cross section of university students who shared their thoughts at a recent seminar organised in Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) are of the view that entrepreneurship studies offer skills for an individual’s survival and is a vital key to unemployment reduction and moreover a booster to relevant university education.
Yeemah Burabaril, a 400-level student of the department of agriculture, applied economics extension RSUST, in his reaction to the introduction of entrepreneurship studies in Nigerian universities, commended the management of RSUST for introducing this course the school.
“I want to say that it is a welcome development as far as a student’s capacity development is concerned. So I want to say that it will benefit us as students as we will be equipped before graduating out from the university. And I want to believe that what you can do to earn a living after graduation is not necessarily your main course of study but other skills acquired which you will develop.”
Lending his voice to the debate, Kelvin Ogona, a Business Education student, while speaking on the benefits he hope to derive from the new course, said that with the entrepreneurship studies in Nigerian universities, he “will acquire and develop skills that will help me outside my main course, it is very important because it involves value added-services to make life more useful and self reliant.”
Ogona observed that with the rising unemployment rate in Nigeria especially among the youths and young graduates, if students will show interest in the programme and be skilled in one or two areas before graduation “I believe the entrepreneurship studies will help to eradicate the problem of unemployment or keep it at a low rate because graduates will be self employed this, would also improve standard of living.”
On his part, Nyeche Ohaka, a 100-level student of Business Education, Faculty of Science and technology, Management option described the course as a thing of grate economic value because it will reduce the tendency for new graduates to look for white collar jobs, but noted that funding and lack of interest in the programme by the students are two major problems.
Ohaka was of the view that if the programme is incorporated in the academic curriculum students will embrace it the more.
SABY ELEMBA
