From Fred Ezeh, Abuja 

The Federal Government has identified mismatch between academic programmes that are being taught in tertiary institutions and the basic skills and abilities required in the labour market as the major cause of youth unemployment in Nigeria. 

Government has insisted that until this anomaly was corrected and opportunities for periodic capacity building for teachers prioritized, Nigeria would continue to record an alarming annual unemployment figures, which might not be good for the country. 

To this end, the Federal Ministry of Education yesterday assembled stakeholders in Abuja to brainstorm and proffer durable and realistic solutions to the challenges responsible for the slow pace of educational development in Nigeria. 

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Director of Science and Technology Education in the ministry, Mr. Joel Ojo, expressed deep worry of government regarding the inability of many university and polytechnic graduates to fit into work places because of absence of requisite soft and hard skills required in an ideal corporate environment.

He was represented by Deputy Director, Vocational Education, Mr. Emma Ocheja, and challenged the stakeholders to identify the mismatches in the curriculum or otherwise and develop a concrete national plan for a continuous professional development of teachers and laboratory technicians as well as identify sources of funding for their activities. 

He listed poor quality teaching, obsolete teaching and learning equipment and student-teacher ratio as being some of the reasons for the skill gap, adding that students eventually graduate with deficiency in communication, technical competence and analytical skills for problem-solving.