By Edwin Philip
Training students in institutions of higher learning to be self reliant, creative in solving the need of their immediate environment while earning a living that will take them all through life as well as becoming employers of labour has been advocated.
The advocacy was made by Dr. Rex Ufomba Director of entrepreneurial and Skills Development, Spiriter University Nneoche, Abia State and former chairman association of directors of entrepreneurial development centres of Nigerian Universities, South East zone, during the a paper presentation at the National workshop on creating a new model for dynamic growth through entrepreneurial education, which took place at Merit House Abuja.
Dr.Ufomba who was the lead paper presenter at the workshop, spoke on energizing a sustainable industrial network for the entrepreneurial system, says a lot of higher institutions have entrepreneurial social Ecosystems that are not sustainable.
” We have projects, institutes, we have building and structures, machines that are not sustainable and we are looking at how we can ensure that there is a sustainable ecosystem especially for the creation of industrial hub, in our institutions so we are trying to present a model that help our tertiary institutions to provide sustainable Ecosystems for their industrial hubs.
He added that unemployability is a challenge in the country, which is as a result of students being exposed to only theoretically aspects of education rather than practical entrepreneurship.
“practical entrepreneurship brings out the theoretical aspect, your hands on ability to co create, innovate, creat a venture even while as student we are working to build to provide studentspreneurs to ensure that studentspreneurs who own their own industries, have their own firms, own ventures so one key thing in entrepreneurship is to ensure that students becomes entrepreneurs.
According to Ufomba, Studentspreneurs is what they are advocating as a solution to the unemployability of Nigerian graduates.
“if we get students all engage in ventures while studying in our universities and minimize the theory and get into the hands on applications and use it as a way of assessing them, rather than just asses base on exams, evaluate them on the impact they are able to make” he said.
The capacity building workshop which brought together Entrepreneurial educators to impact the students to bring the students up to speed with current realities of the lack of jobs in the country.
Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the workshop, Dr Babangida Ruwa, the Technical Assistant Enterprise Development to the governor of Katsina State, who also doubles as a lecturer as a lecturer of information technology and entrepreneurship, said the issue is not lack of work but that of creativity.
“We can’t lie to ourselves that there is work in this country, we also develop copies from other countries like US, Dubai and China, go to Dubai and see how many people are working for the government, very few, but the impact those people are not working in government are doing are even more bigger than the people who work with government in most develop countries”
“I have been saying to young people it is not that you need millions to start a business what you need is just common sense, skill is much bigger than the amount of money you can get from anybody” he said.
In his reaction, Dr Adams Ayoade Tijani, extension specialist at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, a consultant who also presented a paper on developing educators in Nigeria said his presentation centered around creating solutions to societal problems, as the students needs to be trained to identify gaps, identify the problems in the society, in any of their fields and be able to create a solution for it.
Adding that this can only be done when the instructor, lecturer, educators will have the relevant skills tools and mindset, as the workshop is geared toward to reorienting students to be job creators instead of being job seekers,as a lot of certificates have been produced, a lot of graduates have been produced but the market demands is very cogent for them to have the relevant industry skills that will match those gaps in the society.
“So I am encouraging all our instructors, especially those that are taking Entrepreneurial courses in the university that they themselves have to be trained and be trained to have a requisite knowledge, skills to impact into those students for them to be better in their lives” he said.
According to him, there is no course that cannot be commercialized and that why we have to look at our cultures, we need to look at our background to see what can we bring out of our courses, if you are a pharmacologist or a pharmacist, you a graduates and produced ordinary tablets, you cannot mix a formula you cannot mix chemicals, then the degree or certificate is not relevant, you must be equipped with simply skills of doing things in a different way, we need to create, look back into our society, some of the solutions been used by our parents as still here that we can make use of it as a graduate” he added.
Dr. Tijani added that a student have to be exposed to practical knowledge not theory, they need to have industry link, where whatever they are taught in the class should be able to see those things in the industry, they need to be given opportunity to practicalise those things themselves so that when they graduate they can do it on their own.
Expressing his satisfaction on the impact of the two days workshop, the chairman the Chairman Allied Bond Consulting, Dr Joe Anyor, said the caliber of attendance from universities across the country shows that the students will be benefit in the long, saying he was inspired to build the capacity to the future of young persons through trainings like this.
The theme of the workshop was: Remolding Economic Growth and Empowerment through Entrepreneurial Educators in Nigerians Higher Institutions.