The Benue Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has expressed concern over the high level of graduate unemployment in the country saying skill acquisition and entrepreneurship education remain important towards tackling the menace.
Alia spoke in Abuja on Thursday when he paid what he described as a solidarity visit to the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono.
The governor said that his administration would give education top priority in Benue as he sought partnership with the fund to boost the quality of tertiary education delivery.
He commended TETFund management for the huge intervention in public tertiary institutions in the state and the nation at large.
According to him, “what I discovered as responsible for high rate of unemployment in Nigeria is that a lot of degrees have been acquired by youth in the country but the skills are not attached to those degrees.”
He said this was responsible for the reasons why both graduates and those who had not obtained formal education roam the street.
Alia said his administration would go back to the table to revitalise education in the state, saying that tertiary institutions in Benue were once known for quality and scholarship.
“We are here on solidarity visit with my brother, the Executive Secretary of TETFund.
”I am honoured to be here having understood how much he has been doing, promoting education nationwide and improving on the teaching and learning infrastructure as well as making the educational wheel of the nation to run and running smoothly.
“Benue is also a beneficiary of the projects from you and the good people of the state have conveyed our appreciation to your establishment.
”I am just 8 days old as a governor and I am looking forward to partnering with your establishment in the collaborative efforts to move the education forward in our nation,” he said.
He said his desire was to promote skill acquisition at all levels of education and informal sector in his state.
He said doing this would make the young people become self-reliant and employers of labour.
Responding, Echono described the governor as a man called to rescue Benue.
Echono pledged to support his administration in the efforts possible within the laws of the fund in revitalising tertiary education.
He added that as part of the parting gift of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, the Finance Act 2023 was endorsed with an increase in the country education Tax from 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent.
He said the fund was already intervening in about eight to nine public tertiary institutions in Benue, with massive infrastructure development and training of teachers among others.