Many graduates find it difficult getting a job. Reason: they do not have employable skills. To address the challenge, Lagos State Government has began its Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) to help them in their job hunt. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
Despite its impressive economic growth, Lagos, like many states, is confronted with youth unemployment challenge. Majority of the youth, who are employed, are engaged mainly in wholesale and retail businesses, as well as very low-productivity service areas. This is because the levels of education and skills required for gainful employment are lacking in them.
To address this, the Lagos State Government has taken a bold step in identifing graduate internship as a priority area and launched its Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS).
The main objectives of the programme are to provide the youth with employable skills, offer them work experience after mandatory national service, and provide opportunities through various modules.
Its Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, said the state’s economy continued growth would depend on the quality of its workforce, adding that industries would need a steady supply of skilled workers, who have the credentials and workplace training.
He added, however, that one of the challenges the economy faced is preparing young graduates for jobs in sectors as the economy begins to recover.
According to him, investing in training will give job seekers, of all ages, the skills needed to open doors to economic mobility, and at the same time build the skilled workforce the state will need to thrive.
Lagos State, Durosinmi-Etti said, is supporting every effort to build demand-driven workforce development systems, and prepare youths for careers in high-demand occupations.
The GIS, he explained, is designed to help all underprepared graduates have the skills needed to connect job opportunities, adding that about 2000 will be trained this year.
A three-month programme, designed to produce graduates, who are ready for the job market, the commissioner said would equip graduate interns with necessary tools to improve on their knowledge, skills and character attributes in corporate organisation.
According to him, the internship is one of the great ways to develop workplace knowledge, transferable skills and useful contacts.
The commissioner stressed that work experience and internships are keys to graduates getting jobs, as they give interns opportunities to gain an insight into the inner workings of a company, as well as to assess their predicted career progression.
To avoid rejection at work place, Durosinmi-Etti said young graduates need to focus their energies on seeking relevant work experience and internships.This is because workplace experience makes one’s CV stand out and show that one can apply oneself in a range of different roles and fields. He noted that while qualifications are important, attitude, personality and values are essential factors recruiters consider when connecting candidates to companies.
Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment Permanent Secretary, Dr. Yakub Olajide Bashorun said the programme seeks to equip young graduates with employability and leadership skills, combined with the practical experience necessary to work, lead and contribute to development and growth.
He explained that a broad range of partners in the private sector, have been mobilised to offer placements and training as part of the programme.
Consultant on the project and Managing Director, Mac Tay Consulting firm, Mrs Lizzy Rotimi pledged the her company’s determination to assist the state to achieve the goal of the scheme, which she said is for unemployed graduates to acquire employable skills.
According to her, the training is an opportunity for graduate interns to gain employment in organisations where they worked, as well as others, or to be self-employed.
With the high quality of ambitious graduates, who registered with Mac Tay, the consulting firm, it means that clients, who range from start-ups to big brands, can make quick decisions about who to hire.
As an incentive, three outstanding winners emerged from the test conducted to select candidates for the programme.
The winners were Omoarukhe Oladele, a Geology graduate of the University of Ibadan; Olaoluwa Odunuga, a Mechanical Engineering graduate of the University of Ilorin, and Chidinma Obiagwu, a Production Engineering graduate from the University of Benin. They were the best among 500 finalists chosen for the first batch. Each of them will take home N100,000 apart from participating in the scheme.
While on internship, each participant will be given a stipend of N25,000.
Oladele hopes his experience will improve his employment prospects. “Trying to get a job is a nightmare,”he said. He highlighted competition as the main reason for graduate unemployment. While thanking Lagos State government, he hopes he secures job. The experience, he said, will hopefully make him a good candidate for potential employers.
According to Miss Obiagwu and Odunuga, the internship programme will help them to be more employable as both have been looking for jobs since they graduated.
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