By Chris Ochayi
ABUJA—The United States government yesterday advised the Federal Government to engage its teeming population of graduates of tertiary institutions in active productive sectors of the economy in order to accelerate socio-economic development of the country.

U.S Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Mr. Bruce Wharton, who gave the advice during his visit to the National Universities Commission, NUC, said producing universities graduates every year was not the end, but providing job for them.

“Graduates need a job and this demands that the United States of America and Nigeria need to work together to find ways of creating employment opportunities for the graduates of the universities,” he said.

He said the graduates of Nigerian universities needed to be assured of the highest quality to make them fit into the global market place of business,  science and  ideas.

He said: “I think it will help in the long run. I know that in my country, it is competition from Europe,  China, to make our institutions stronger and I am sure they have to make Nigeria institutions stronger as well.”

According to him, the voluntary visiting and education exchange programmes and others extended to Nigeria are clear testimony of the commitment of the United States to work with Nigeria to produce the best universities and best graduates possible.

Noting the positive progress recorded by Nigeria in the area of educational development in the last 45 years, Wharton tasked the National Universities Commission, NUC, to ensure quality in Nigerian universities to enable them produce quality graduates.

Wharton was also optimistic that Nigeria’s educational system had the potential to lead and compete favourably in global rating.

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Julius Okojie, said in the recent past, the commission had taken steps to collaborate with private sector from Nigerian universities in efforts to sell Nigerian graduates to them.

Represented by the Director, Monitoring Support Services, Akinboade Agbaoye, the Executive Secretary said “indeed in 2004, I was in the group of the present Executive Secretary as a visiting professor then, and he signed a questionnaire and we visited all private industries, all private concerns in Nigeria.

“We wanted to know what did they think about Nigerian graduates and what were their deficiencies they have noticed in the kind of degree that they come out with.

“We came out with document, and after that document, since he (Prof. Okojie), came in as Executive Secretary, he has been trying to implement that by making sure that entrepreneur education, for instance, is embedded in the curriculum for every programme so that if you graduate, you don’t find it difficult to get job.”