The Chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), Mr. Christopher Kolade, recently underscored  the seriousness of the nation's employment crisis when he put the number  of unemployed Nigerians at about 40 million. Kolade, who was represented by the Assistant Director and Head of Services of  SURE-P, Mr. Anthony  Kalu, at a sensitisation programme organised by the agency in llorin, the Kwara State capital, bemoaned the fact that the  Nigerian economy could not absorb the nearly 300,000 graduates being produced by  Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions in the country every year.

Attempting to explain the disinterest of firms in employing fresh Nigerian graduates, he said the potential employers  complain about their lack of experience, the high cost of maintaining a large workforce and the need to maintain profits.

In addition, he said the firms did not want to commit a lot of money into training of fresh graduates who may not fit into their systems eventually.He further disclosed that the SURE – P Graduate  Internship Scheme (GIS) provides a solution to the problem of inexperienced graduates by developing a skill base that firms can benefit from among the graduates at a minimal cost.

The scheme provides young graduates with temporary work placement in participating firms for a period of 12 months to enhance their employability and provide a livelihood for them for the period.

Fifty thousand Nigerians across the nation's 36 states and the Federal Capital Terrority are to be engaged in the scheme to improve their skill base. He added that 96,000 graduates  are already registered on the portal of the scheme, while 2000 firms have indicated interest in participating in the initiative through their registration. Only 35 per cent of these firms, however,  met the Federal Government's requirements for participation.

We welcome the effort by SURE-P to refocus attention on the employment challenge in Nigeria. It is good that the problem has not only been widely recognised as a ticking time bomb, efforts are now on to sensitize the people to the need to improve the employability skills of Nigerian graduates.

We, however, advise that the scope of this scheme should be expanded. The report in Ilorin that only 21 out of 3,290 graduates who registered for the scheme in Kwara State have been matched with firms, with only three of them eventually hired, is not encouraging. If this parlous figure is extrapolated to the whole country, it could suggest that the scheme cannot scratch even the surface of the employment problem in the country. Arrangements should be made to bring more graduates and firms on board.

In addition, with the endless search of graduates for jobs in the country, we believe it is time for a shift  from the era of  reliance on the government for jobs.

It is certain that the government cannot employ all the graduates produced annually in the country. Even the private sector cannot absorb them all as many of the nation's industries are operating below their installed capacity on account of various challenges such as power supply shortages and the decline in the purchasing power of the people.

The time has come for Nigerian youths to orientate their minds towards towards entrepreneurship. It is, therefore, necessary for all graduates to increase their skills and plan for self-employment. They also need to be guided to look inwards and convert their innate gifts to job-creation. Nigeria's educational authorities and tertiary  institutions should also place more emphasis on technical courses.

Educational curricula at all levels of education should be redesigned to place more emphasis on entrepreneurial competence. The government, on its part, must do everything within its authority to stabilise power supply and provide the  much-needed  environment for businesses to thrive in the country. Unemployment is at the root of many of the ills, such as insecurity, plaguing the country today. We must design fresh strategies to tackle it frontally.