BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Vice-Chancellor, Osun State University, Labo Popoola, has advised university graduates in the country to engage in creative ventures outside their fields of study, stating that it is not the responsibility of government to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates.
Popoola, in his address at the convocation ceremony of the university, stressed the need for graduates to be exposed to productive vocations or agriculture with a view to becoming entrepreneurs and employers of labour.
Urging the unemployed graduates of UNIOSUN to approach the school for loan to start up small businesses, Popoola said, “There is unemployment all over the world; it is not only in Nigeria. Government cannot employ everybody.
You hear a graduate say he or she doesn’t have a job. The implication of that is that the governor has not given such person a job. It’s not the responsibility of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola to give jobs. It’s not the responsibility of government to provide jobs. Jobs can be sought anywhere legitimately.
“I can be a graduate of physics and decide to go and have a poultry. I can be a graduate of mathematics and decide to be a fashion designer, and these children (graduates) are getting used to it. My own children; every one of them has learned a trade, including the one that has a PhD. So, the job may come. If it doesn’t come, so, be it. They are busy doing something else. “What we have done at UNIOSUN, and that has been on in the last three years, is that we have organised intensive entrepreneurial trainings for all students. Every year, it takes between five and six weeks. So, unless you are not a serious student, you are likely to get out of that place with something. We also attach students for practical. We started a business start-up scheme for alumni of our institution. If you are an alumnus of the institution and you are interested in entrepreneurship, you can assess N200, 000 loans at an interest of one per cent. In other words, you have only N2, 000 to pay for N200, 000 loan every year and its payable within five years. As we speak, up to 40 alumni have been able to assess such loans to be able to start life on their own,” he said.
On the threat by the Academic Staff Union of Universities to resume its suspended strike, Popoola urged the union to effect changes and tackle corruption in their respective institutions rather than confronting the
government.
He added that there was the need for the unions in the various institutions to hold the governing councils, the managements and the visitors accountable, saying that strike was not the solution.
“ASUU will always call for strike. Salaries are low, I agree with that but that’s not just the issue. The issue is that the money that had been given to us, what have we used it for? There is corruption along the chain. The more you put in there, the more the people want to steal. These are the issues that we should address. I am not an advocate of strike. Strike doesn’t solve any problem. I mean, if you have to go on strike for 10 months, losers are too many. Parents lose, students lose, and the society loses.
“Autonomy should come with responsibility. Let’s look inward; are we doing things right? The point is that we are not doing things right and I believe that the unions hold the ace to help in solving the Nigerian university system’s problem. We need to hold the management accountable. We need to hold councils accountable. We have to hold our owners, the visitors accountable. ASUU, NASU, SSANU, NAAT have a role to play in getting what we want,” the VC stated.
