Buhari asks graduates to shift focus to job creation, self-employment

President Mohammadu Buhari has said there must be a paradigm shift in the focus and orientation of Nigerian graduates towards job creation and self-employment.

Buhari, who was the Visitor at the 12th convocation ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) on Saturday in Abuja, said for this objective to be realised, Nigerian universities needed to develop new curriculum that would lay emphasis on the two objectives of self-employment and job creation.

“It is government’s determination to adjust the country’s entire educational curriculum towards emphasis on entrepreneurial education and societal relevance,” he said.

The president maintained that education remained the foundation of all developments, be it social, economic, political or religious; and that is why he is committed to making education affordable to all through the Open and Distance Learning mode.

He, however, urged Nigerian graduates, especially, the fresh ones, to utilise the opportunities created by the government in various programmes to create work. He also urged the graduates to be good ambassadors to the NOUN and Nigeria in general as they go into the society.

In his remark, the vice chancellor of the NOUN, Professor Olufemi A. Peters, gave the breakdown of the graduating students as 21,339 undergraduates and 7,401 postgraduates, adding that six students would be awarded with first class degrees; 2,306 second class (upper division), 11, 075 for second class (lower division) and 5,558 for third class.