Professor Ifeanyi Onyeonoru
The University of Ibadan Director of Career Development and Counselling Center, Professor Ifeanyi Onyeonoru, has said skill mismatch was worsening graduate unemployment in Nigeria on account of requisite skills for employers’ needs.
The CDCC director said rapid technological changes in the 21st century and the nature of the contemporary work environment required new skill sets for employability and relevance.
Onyeonoru made this known on Friday at a career support programme organised by the CDCC for the University of Ibadan students to acquaint them with industry-needed skills and adapt modern technology to achieve this.
He said: “Each industrial revolution era significantly determines the nature of adaptable skills evident in the way people think, organised for production and living, and the rate of success and prosperity among individuals and groups.”
The CDCC director connected the 4th industrial revolution, among others, with smart machines, storage systems and production systems that could autonomously exchange information, trigger actions and control each other without human intervention.
Prof Onyeonoru then urged the students to be smart, insightful, multi-skilled and adaptable to the skill requirements of the 4th industrial revolution taking place in the global job market.
He advised the students to be sensitive and adaptable to how algorithm processes and artificial intelligence would disrupt and shape the nature of work and the skills of workers in the workplace of the future and begin to hone skills relevant to the new world which keeps unfolding.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof Kayode Adebowale, in his opening speech at the event, pointed out career support as a very significant aspect of the university system.
Adebowale said, “Career support relates to students’ ability to foster a sense of purpose with regard to career development. It enables the students to engage with their innate talents and develop professional skills along the lines of their future aspirations and life’s purpose.”
He added that “with clear career goals and an academic path towards them, students are more likely to be more motivated and engaged in their career course, leading to their future jobs with a sense of fulfilment and productivity.”
