Nearly 60 per cent of employers in Nigeria say graduates are not job-ready, underscoring a widening gap between academic training and industry expectations, a new report has revealed.

This comes as experts urged Nigerian undergraduates to boost their employability by acquiring soft skills and leveraging opportunities both within and beyond the classroom before graduation.

The advice was given on Thursday in Ikeja, Lagos, during the presentation of Proten International’s latest report on the gap between education and industry needs.

The report added that more than 55 per cent of Nigerian graduates work in roles unrelated to their field of study, as it highlighted critical gaps in communication, technical and digital skills.

“Findings reveal significant misalignment between academic training and the competencies demanded by modern workplaces, with 55 per cent of respondents working in fields unrelated to their academic background and nearly 60 per cent of employers reporting that graduates are inadequately prepared for their roles.

“Critical gaps exist in teamwork, communication, technical proficiency, and digital literacy, while soft skills and practical experience remain highly desired but underdeveloped,” the report read.

Speaking at the industry roundtable themed “Bridging the Skill Gap Between Education and Industry Needs in Nigeria,” the Managing Director of Proten International, Deborah Yemi-Oladayo, described the problem as multidimensional.

“It’s not one way. If you redesign the curriculum, it means you are improving it. Then you need to retrain the people who are going to train the students,” she said.

She questioned the level of investment in lecturer development, adding, “How many of our lecturers get enough training? If we’re expecting our lecturers to do much more for our students, we need to give them that level of training so that they will be able to transfer in the classroom.”

Yemi-Oladayo stressed that expecting improved outcomes without equipping educators is unrealistic.

“It’s not enough to expect lecturers to do magic. They can only give what they have,” she said.

The MD also advised students not to wait for systemic reforms before taking responsibility for their own development.

“I advise undergraduates to harness opportunities that are around the world. We have online platforms that deliver training for free,” she said, urging them to focus on self-development beyond social media.

She added that students must be intentional about their growth. “They (the students) have a part to play. Nobody will do it for them,” she said.

Also speaking, the founder of Treford Africa, a non-engineering skill partner for professionals and businesses, Harry Enabolo, emphasised the importance of practical experience in preparing for employment.

“Experience prepares you for a job faster than almost anything you learn. The best learning still happens on the job,” he said.

Enabolo encouraged students to seek internships and engage with startups, noting that applying knowledge in real-life situations accelerates learning.

“One of the best ways of learning is to take all the knowledge you have gained and apply it to something,” he said, adding that early exposure to work environments helps students transition more easily into the labour market.

He further called for a more flexible education system that allows students to combine academic work with practical experience without affecting their performance.

The representatives from government, the private sector, and academia attended the roundtable. (The PUNCH)

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