Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara has expressed concern at the rising  rate of graduate unemployment in the country.

He spoke  on Wednesday at the second entrepreneurial conference organised by Kwara State University, Malete, Moro Local Government Area.

The governor was represented at the occasion by Alhaji Saka Onimago the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development.

He noted that the nation's unemployment rate was exacerbated by lack of entrepreneurial skills  and orientation among graduates of higher institutions.

The governor said  majority of graduates from Nigeria's institutions of higher learning were unemployed because they lacked the necessary skills and entrepreneurial mind-set needed to transform themselves.

To address this problem and curtail youth restiveness in the state, the governor said his administration would focus on youth development.

Earlier in his remarks, Prof. AbdulRasheed Na'Allah,  the university's  Vice Chancellor, had  lamented that Nigerian universities have failed the nation.

He said this was responsible for the high  rate of graduate unemployment in the country.

Na'Allah, however, said the university was poised to rid the state of poverty by producing graduates  to develop the state.

He said the university was established to bridge the unemployment gap and produce graduates that were employable and could  create employment.

The vice chancellor said the university's Centre for Entrepreneurship was established to instill in students entrepreneurial skills to make them job creators.

"Therefore,  all students of the institution irrespective of course of study or discipline, are made to undergo a course in entrepreneurship  in order to expose them to what it takes to be an employer of labour," Na'allah said. (NAN)