Opinion

Nigeria Does Not Lack Brilliant Graduates, It Lacks Workplace Preparedness

Published

2 months ago

May 11, 2026

Chigozin Obinna

Debate continues after Moniepoint’s CEO raised concerns about graduate employability and unfilled vacancies in Nigeria

Kayode Adebiyi | 11 May 2026

Regarding the statement made by the MD of Moniepoint at The Platform organised by Pastor Poju Oyemade that many young Nigerians are unemployable, and that his organisation has about 500 vacancies that remain unfilled because of this challenge, I will not entirely disagree with his assertion because it is based on his experience. However, I will argue that his company may not have looked deeply and widely enough.

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It is difficult to believe that a globally rated company operating in Nigeria cannot find 500 young Nigerians to fill vacancies, considering the country’s enormous youthful population.

Let us begin with academic qualifications. There is no way Nigeria lacks academically qualified young people who can be employed.

In fact, if organisations restrict their requirements to only first class and second-class upper university graduates, as well as distinction holders from polytechnics, they would still be overwhelmed by the number of applicants who meet those stringent standards.

In other words, Nigeria is not short of academically brilliant graduates. These same young Nigerians often travel abroad after earning their first degrees in Nigeria and excel at postgraduate level in universities across the UK, the US, and other parts of Europe.

On a personal level, I know several young Nigerians who graduated with a second-class lower division in Nigeria, yet went on to top their master’s degree classes in the UK.

That is why I do not readily agree when people claim that Nigeria’s educational standard has completely collapsed. If that were entirely true, how do these same young Nigerians leave Nigeria and outperform their native classmates abroad at postgraduate level? The same pattern is evident even at secondary school level.

I know many family friends who relocated abroad with their teenage children, only for the children to complain that topics being taught abroad had already been covered in Nigeria years earlier.

My aunt’s son left Nigeria while in SS1, got to the UK, topped his class, and swept several academic prizes, despite not being considered the best student in his class back in Nigeria.

Recently, I was searching for an editor for my next novel because my former editor was unavailable due to other commitments.

I contacted a Nigerian lady based in the UK, who is also a published author, and asked her to recommend a very good literary editor.

To my surprise, she told me her editor was based in Nigeria. I had expected her to mention a foreign professional.

Interestingly, this young man is only 30 years old and exceptionally talented at what he does. He is currently editing my manuscript, and I met him for the first time a few weeks ago during my visit to Nigeria.

Having said all of that, this is where the real disconnect lies regarding the employability of young Nigerians. There is a major difference between academic qualification and employability skills.

Nigeria does not lack academically qualified young people; what many graduates lack are the practical skills required to fit seamlessly into a workplace environment.

This is where employers also need to apply more human understanding and flexibility in their recruitment strategies.

Nigerian tertiary institutions are structured mainly to prepare students to pass examinations and obtain certificates. Unfortunately, many students are not adequately prepared for the realities of work life outside the academic environment.

This is where many organisations misunderstand the problem and conclude that graduates are unemployable. A lot of brilliant graduates do not even know how to prepare a professional CV that can attract the attention of an HR executive.

Some do not understand workplace communication, professional conduct, teamwork, emotional intelligence, or even how to confidently face an interview panel.

Many graduates also struggle with problem solving, presentation skills, punctuality, professional etiquette, and basic office culture because these things are rarely taught within the university system.

In some cases, students complete four or five years in school without any structured internship, mentorship, or practical exposure to a real workplace environment.

So, while they may possess strong theoretical knowledge, they often lack the soft skills and practical orientation employers expect.

This is why Nigerian universities and polytechnics must begin to rethink their curriculum beyond academic theories alone. Final year students should undergo compulsory employability training before graduation.

Institutions should organise practical workshops on CV writing, interview preparation, workplace ethics, communication skills, leadership, teamwork, digital literacy, and problem solving.

There should also be stronger partnerships between schools and industries to ensure students participate in internships, industrial attachments, and mentorship programmes that expose them to real work environments before graduation.

Career development centres in universities should become fully functional rather than existing merely in name. Professionals from different industries should be invited regularly to interact with students and prepare them for life after school.

Students should graduate not only with certificates, but also with the confidence, orientation, and practical competence needed to function effectively in today’s workplace.

At the same time, organisations must also show more patience and long-term commitment in developing young talent. Every graduate cannot become workplace ready overnight.

Companies should be willing to identify brilliant young people with potential and help groom them through structured onboarding and mentorship programmes.

Instead of dismissing candidates outright at the interview stage, organisations can introduce longer probation periods during which graduates are trained, monitored, and properly integrated into the company culture.

No society develops by abandoning its young people. Nigeria has an abundance of intelligent, talented, and resilient young minds. What is required is a bridge between academic excellence and workplace preparedness.

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Once that bridge is properly built by both educational institutions and employers, many of these so called “unemployable” young Nigerians will become some of the most productive assets any organisation can ever have.

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Opinion

Seven prime ministers in a decade: What Nigeria can learn from Britain’s chaos

Published

6 days ago

July 2, 2026

Mariam Balogun

By Dr Toju Ogbe,

The resignation of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, less than two years after leading the Labour Party to a landslide electoral victory, was dramatic, yet reflected a pattern we have become familiar with in recent British politics.

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Starmer now joins a procession of fallen prime ministers stretching back to 2016 – from David Cameron to Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.

None of these prime ministers was ousted through military intervention, popular insurrection, or a court order. Rather, each was ultimately brought down by the same political system that elevated them to electoral glory.

To the casual observer, the rapid turnover of British Prime Ministers in the last decade may appear chaotic, or even a symptom of political instability. Some argue that the British electorate has become ungovernable.

However, beneath the apparent chaos at Westminster lies an uncomfortable truth that African democracies would do well to examine, particularly Nigerians who wonder why our democracy has delivered so little despite almost three decades of uninterrupted civilian rule.

The turbulence of British politics over the last decade, presents an important lesson on democratic accountability beyond successful elections.

Once the prime minister is deemed a liability by their own political party, the mechanics of accountability are activated. The daggers are quietly drawn and the ruthless pressure to resign begins.

Every poll and survey on public opinion is closely monitored, local election results are taken as a referendum on leadership. Cabinet resignations begin to gain momentum and backbenchers get restless.

Once the news media smells an internal uprising, they amplify scrutiny of the prime minister, subjecting every move – speech, public appearance, political misstep etc to relentless examination.

Pressure gradually mounts until the prospect of bitter internal leadership challenge becomes impossible to resist. The Prime Minister falls.

For every British Prime Minister, winning an election is merely the beginning of examination, not the end. Political survival lasts only for as long as the prime minister maintains the confidence of his party and the parliament.

This is the muscle of British democratic accountability; a political culture that prioritises institutional survival over individual ambition. Starmer recognised this reality in his resignation speech:

“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.”

That closing sentence alone is a masterclass in British institutional democracy. The party spoke. The leader listened. The correction comes from within.

Nigeria presents a strikingly different political logic.

Nigeria on the other hand, presents an interesting contrast with a different political logic and culture.

The notion that a governing party would overtly interrogate the performance of its own leader and engineer a transition to someone better equipped to maintain public confidence, is in most cases politically unthinkable in Nigeria.

Political parties in Nigeria do not coalesce around ideological principles; rather, they operate more as electoral instruments organised around powerful individuals.

Internal dissent is often dealt with as betrayals rather than as part of healthy democratic engagement. Godfatherism and transactional loyalties shape political succession and leadership retention.

Once elected in Nigeria, there is an inherent assumption that a governor or president has a fixed two-term lease on power.

While 10 Downing Street is preparing to welcome its seventh Prime Minister in a decade, Nigeria, in contrast, has had only two democratically elected presidents during the same period – one of whom is still serving.

Social and economic conditions may deteriorate. Insecurity may worsen. Campaign promises may be ignored.

Public frustrations may become unbearable. Yet, incumbent governors and presidents often remain insulated from meaningful internal scrutiny and are even routinely anointed as ‘consensus’ candidate for second terms provided loyalties to godfathers, rather than the electorates are maintained.

The consequence is that loyalty, instead of performance is often rewarded at the expense of accountability.

This is not an argument for a revolving door at Aso Rock, as frequent leadership changes, by themselves, do not guarantee good governance.

Rather it is a case for making accountability an integral aspect of party politics in Nigeria.

Although the Nigerian presidential system provides for a fixed four-year term regardless of party confidence, political parties should however, be more than instruments for election campaigns, activated to simply retain or take over power every four years.

Electoral victory, should not be the ultimate goal, but the starting point of public service where democratic legitimacy must be continuously earned.

Equally important, political parties must develop the institutional maturity to honestly evaluate their own leaders. They must prioritise public interest and institutional credibility over loyalty to ‘Godfathers’.

The ultimate lesson from Westminster’s revolving door is clear: the true strength of a democratic system, lies not in the ability to produce leaders, but the capacity to effectively replace them, when they no longer command confidence.

Protecting failing leaders from accountability weakens democracy and political parties must ensure that no leader is more powerful than the institution.

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As political parties gear up for the 2027 general elections, the political class must decide what matters more: we can continue to reward blind loyalty and endure predictable decline, or discover the courage to demand accountability from those who seek to lead us.