The craving of Nigerian youth to acquire paper qualification at all costs was the focus of a public discourse during the orientation programme of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) early in May.
It was learnt that some desperate youth pay various sums of money to be awarded degrees by unaccredited educational institutions. Sixty-two of such ‘graduates’ were arrested at a fake NYSC orientation camp in Nasarawa State recently. When they were quizzed, they confessed that they paid some money to acquire degree certificates to enable them to participate in the NYSC scheme and subsequently secure employment.
“We paid between N120,000 and N200,000 to be admitted into the camp,’’ one of the fake graduates said.
They said that after acquiring the degree certificates, they also needed NYSC discharge certificates to complete the circle, as NYSC certificate was a prerequisite for employment.
Stakeholders and experts have blamed the growing obsession for paper qualification on the type of education that was bequeathed to Nigeria by the British colonialists. They also attribute the high unemployment rate in the country to the preference for the acquisition of certificates instead of skills.
Mr Edmund Onwuliri, Assistant Director, Information and Public Relations, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), said that one of the problems facing the country was the erroneous emphasis placed on paper certificates. “Everybody believes that you can only be productive when you have gone to school, but then what is education? Education is what arms you with the right language to give expression to your natural talents,’’ he said.
Mr Bayo Omoboriowo, a graduate of Chemistry from the University of Lagos, urged the people to desist from undue obsession for certificates. “A certificate is a document which simply certifies the completion of a course. It places power in your hands to enable you to access what the certificate has the tendency to offer,’’ said Omoboriowo, who is now a photographer.
He stressed that the acquisition of certificates should not be a do-or-die affair, adding that a person could still make it in life without necessarily possessing a certificate.
Omoboriowo said that he developed interest in photography at a very early age, adding that he later decided to adopt photography as a profession even though he studied Chemistry in the university.
He conceded that his education had helped him to harness his potentials.
“Young people don’t have to worship certificates; all they need to do is to ensure that they get enough knowledge to make them relevant in this time and age.
“Your skill and talent would always make a way for you. In a case where the acquisition of certificate seems to be problematic, then skill acquisition might be a way out.
“It is observed that many people who are not so good in regular school work could be very good in technical education; so, there should be provision for technical education and human development in our scheme of things,’’ he said.
Samson Agboko, a civil servant, urged parents to refrain from forcing their children to study particular courses.
He said that although parents ought to guide their children in making career choices, their courses of study should be determined by their individual abilities.
Nevertheless, Onwuliri said that efforts to address the high level of unemployment in the country require a shift of emphasis toward skill acquisition and technical education.
“The fact that you have a university degree does not guarantee that you are going to get a good job or live well. All the same, anyone who knows how to apply his hands to work in a pragmatic way will live better.
“White-collar jobs are in short supply nowadays and the economy is struggling.
“It is only when the economy is vibrant that you begin to see more room being created to absorb the labour force but if the economy is wobbly, what do you expect?’’ he asked.
Onwuliri noted that most of the artisans who engaged in house-finishing tasks like tiling, Plaster of Paris (POP) fittings, among others, were from neighbouring countries like Togo and Republic of Benin. He said that the foreigners were usually preferred to their Nigerian counterparts because they were very competent and resourceful.
“We have been advocating the incorporation of entrepreneurship development into the curriculum at all levels of education, particularly in secondary and post-secondary institutions. That is a veritable way of promoting skill acquisition.
“We are also encouraging graduates to learn skills after graduation and that is why the NDE is establishing skill acquisition centres all over the country.
“We have up to 80 different trades that we offer training on and we counsel you first and after the counseling, you select what you want and you will be trained in that area.
“NDE has offices in all the states of the federation and the FCT, so you are free to walk into any of the offices to make enquiries,’’ Onwuliri added.
All the same, analysts insist that the government and other stakeholders should play greater roles in efforts to check the perceptible mania for paper certificates.
They argue that measures should be put in place to enable the youth to harness their potentials and check the endless search for white collar jobs.

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