Agency Report

Igbinedion University, Okada in Edo, says it will henceforth provide start-up capital for the institution’s student-entrepreneurs to ensure the growth and sustainability of their business ideas.

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, disclosed this on Wednesday in Okada, while declaring open the 9^th Students’ Product Exhibition and Trade Fair of the university.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 700 students across various colleges of the university were trained under the entrepreneurship and skill acquisition programme of the institution.

The vice-chancellor said that the students had proven that the idea of skill acquisition was noble, as entrepreneurship had become a trend for survival and sustenance.

“Unemployment is becoming embarrassing, with the available statistics. And this is not peculiar to Nigeria, but across the globe, particularly due to economic recession and the effect of the global pandemic.

“Besides, employability of our graduates is another serious concern. Many of the students graduating from various tertiary institutions are not employable,” he said.

Ezemonye also noted that some university graduates were underemployed, resulting in some of them engaging in cab driving, with many others getting the job of office secretary and other demeaning jobs.

He said that it was in an attempt to stem the tide that entrepreneurship programme was embedded in the university’s curriculum over 10 years ago.