President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday
described as unfortunate the lack of adequate skills
among Nigerian graduates. The president spoke in Ilorin during the 29th
convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin. Jonathan, who was represented by the Supervising
Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, said
universities should be agents of change. The president declared as intolerable a situation
whereby a large number of graduates produced by
universities lack relevant skills due to poor training. “University teachers must re-orient themselves and
avoid distractions at work occasioned by
unnecessary strikes which remain the bane of our
educational system with its attendant
consequences,’’ he said. He called on the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) to call off its strike and allow reason to
prevail in the interest of the country and the
students. The president said that government would
continue to address the challenges facing the
country’s university system. “The Federal Government is leaving no stone
unturned in the quest to transform Nigerian
universities to make them globally competitive. “With 129 universities and several other higher
institutions, the country has no reason to lag
behind in the quest for technological
development,’’ he added. Jonathan also advised universities to mobilise
funds by commercialising their expertise and
research efforts to supplement government grants. He said the problem of funding should be tackled
from all fronts while all stakeholders must be
involved in cost-sharing for the country to have
standard universities. The president said his government had increased
the budget for education progressively from
N234.8 billion in 2010 to N426.5 billion in 2013,
with N55.4 billion allocated to the university
subsector alone. “Barely a month ago, the Federal Government
released the sum of N130 billion to universities for
infrastructure development and payment of earned
allowances to staff,’’ he said. He congratulated the institution’s vice chancellor,
Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, the senate, management
and staff as well as students of the university. The president said the knowledge and skills the
graduating students had acquired would guide
them in their various endeavours and service to the
nation. Earlier, Ambali had congratulated the graduating
students on the feats recorded and charged them
to work hard so that they would stand out from the
crowd. “It has been observed that hard work does not kill,
therefore, be focused on your dream. If you work
hard, things will work well for you and Nigeria,’’ he
added. Ambali, in his address entitled, “Winners you are,”
urged the graduating students to be good
ambassadors of their parents and their alma mater. “You should be reminded that University of Ilorin
stands for standard, excellence, probity and
integrity and that is what we expect you to preach
when you get to the field. “Let these values continue to guide you as you
seek your place in the world, winners, they say
don’t quit and quitters don’t win. “Winners you are! Continue to work hard and you
shall continue to win and overcome challenges of
life,’’ Ambali said. The vice chancellor said a total of 6,851 students
graduated with first degrees while 969 bagged
higher degrees. )www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/jonathan-laments-lack-adequate-skills-among-nigerian-graduates/

Am not so sure, this might probably help
http://www.yahoo-mail.com.ng/lack-professional-skills