Benue State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia has expressed his concern over the high level of graduate unemployment in Nigeria.
Alia emphasized that skill acquisition and entrepreneurship education are critical in addressing this issue.
The governor has made education a top priority in Benue State and was seeking a partnership with the Tertiary Education Trust TETFund to improve the quality of tertiary education in the state.
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During his visit to the TETFund Headquarters in Abuja, on Thursday, the Governor commended the management for their intervention in public tertiary institutions in Benue State and the nation at large.
He argued that a lot of degrees have been acquired by Nigerian youth without the necessary skills, which has contributed to the high rate of unemployment in the country.
He said;
“Skills are not attached to those degrees, noting this was one of the reasons why both graduates and those who have not attended the four walls of education roam the street across the nation.”
The Governor announced his administration’s plan to revitalize education in the state. He upheld the importance of restoring the lost glory of tertiary institutions in the state, which were once known for quality and scholarship.
Alia expressed his desire to promote skill acquisition at all levels of education and the informal sector, to make young people self-reliant and employers of labor.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, described the Rev Father as a man called to rescue Benue State from its current state.
Echono pledged to support Alia’s administration in revitalizing tertiary education in the state, within the laws of the Fund.
Alia informed the Executive Secretary that the Finance Act 2023, which was endorsed by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, has increased the Education Tax, the primary source of revenue for TETFund, to three per cent.
The Governor said:
“We are here on a solidarity visit with my brother, the Executive Secretary of TETFund. I’m honoured to be here having understood how much he has been doing, promoting education nationwide and improving the teaching and learning infrastructure as well as making the educational wheel of the nation run smoothly.
“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 8 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.”
According to him, TETFund was already intervening in about eight to nine public tertiary institutions in Benue State, with massive infrastructure development and training of teachers among others in both the institutions owned by the Federal and the State.
