The Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, Dr Umaru Radda, has said that only one out of 100 Nigerian graduates is employable, attributing the situation to poor skills and lack of entrepreneurial competence.
Radda, who spoke yesterday at the opening ceremony of the sensitization for the Young Business Owners in Nigeria programme held at Amawbia in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State, said it was to address the challenge that informed the initiation of the programme by SMEDAN.
Represented by the director in charge of policy, advocacy and coordination in the organization, Mr. Monday Ewans, the DG said the population of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 was rapidly on the increase, adding that the vast majority of them lived in the poor and emerging economies.
He said: “There is no doubt that the unemployment situation in Nigeria has reached a crisis level. Statistics have shown that only one out of every 100 graduates is assured of getting a job in Nigeria.
“One of the major causes of unemployment is skill shortage occasioned by dearth of skilled personnel and entrepreneurial competence, inadequate capacity of vocational skill centres and the non-orientation of the educational system to the production of vocational skills that are aligned to industry requirements.”
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