Hyacinth: Graduate unemployment rate alarming — Benue will prioritise skill acquisition

Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue state, says there is a need for stakeholders to prioritise skills acquisition and entrepreneurship education to address rising graduate unemployment in the country.

The governor spoke on Thursday when he paid a visit to Sonny Echono, executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), in Abuja.

Alia said Nigerians are acquiring a lot of degrees without getting the relevant skills needed to be relevant in the labour market.

The governor said his administration would promote skills acquisition at all levels of education and the informal sector to make young people self-reliant and employers of labour.

Alia said the Benue government would partner with TETFund to boost the quality of tertiary education delivery in the state.

“Benue state is also a beneficiary of the projects from you and the good people of the state have conveyed our appreciation to your establishment. I’m just eight days old as governor and I’m looking forward to partnering with your establishment in the collaborative efforts to move education forward in our nation,” he said.

Speaking during the meeting, Echono pledged to support the governor’s drive to revitalise tertiary education in Benue.

Echono said TETFund is already intervening in about eight to nine public tertiary institutions in the state with massive infrastructural development and training of teachers among others in both the institutions owned by the federal and state governments.