By Shina Abubakar 

OSOGBO: To tackle the menace of unemployability among Nigerian graduates, former Head of Service of the federation, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, has stressed the need for curriculum rejig.

This is as the Vice-Chancellor of Bowen University, Prof Jonathan Babalola, called for research-driven policy and payment of graduates on performance basis rather than placing priority on certificates.

The duo spoke at the grand finale of the 60th anniversary of Postgraduate studies in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. 

They lamented that Nigerians are now certificate-oriented rather than competence in handling tasks assigned to them. 

Prof. Babalola in his lecture titled: Postgraduate Studies in Nigeria: The Past, present and future highlighted the challenges facing education including sales of degrees by lecturers and institutions, plagiarised research work, lack of adequate supervision/ mentorship among others.

He noted that stakeholders especially the government, lecturers and students must embrace technology and increase funding for education. 

Babalola warned against falsification of data in research and urged the government at all levels to embrace research-driven polices to tackle the problem facing the country. 

In his goodwill message, the former HoS, Afolabi disclosed that education in the past produced market-ready graduates who were prepared for the needs of society. 

According to him: “In the past, graduates were market-ready products, but what we find today is that there is a lot of pressure and rush to really have certificate—and not the competence, that is why we are battling with unemployment, making our youth not to be self- employed. We must rejig our curriculum to be current, relevant, useful and serve the society.”

Earlier, the Provost of PG, Prof. Victor Olaleye disclosed that “Postgraduate education at OAU has expanded significantly, offering various programmes across 104 departments and 14 faculties.

“Over the past 60 years, the College has produced 29,887 graduates who have achieved remarkable success globally, comprising: 3,985 Postgraduate Diplomas; 13,813 Professional Masters; 8,247 Masters with Research Thesis; 965 Master of Philosophy; 2, 877 Doctor of Philosophy. The current student enrolment is: 7,095, including 60 international students.”