Guardian

WITH the call for Nigerian graduates to focus on being employers of labour rather than lengthen the increasing queue of the unemployed in the labour market and with institutions of learning adjusting their programmes to reflect the new realities, the Federal Government has been urged to create conducive environment to achieve the new direction.

According to the Federal University of Technology, Akure Muslim Graduates Association (FUTAMGA), which made the call, the new direction of self-reliance and entrepreneurship being canvassed for today’s graduates, is the best option to tackle the menace of unemployment and unleash the potentials of the youth to bear on the socio-economic development of the nation.

The association, which held its fifth national conference at the university, said: “If Nigeria is to join the league of industrialised nations of the world, our government must propel the youths, particularly graduates of higher institutions, into exploiting the arrays of opportunities in entrepreneurship and industrialisation for personal and national growth.

“Nigeria has immense human resources potentials particularly in those of us who were trained by specialised technology institutions like FUTA who already have the technical know-how but unfortunately we are constrained to perform optimally by an environment that is not industry-friendly.”

Central to this quest, according to the association in a communiqué released after the parley and signed by Engr. Buliamin Abdukareem, who headed the local organising committee, is the provision of infrastructures particularly electricity, “which drives the economy of the industrialised world and without which our attempt at industrial growth will remain a mirage.”

The association also urged other institutions of government like banks to show interest in the development of the youths by investing by way of patenting and encouraging industrial innovations to kick-start the required industrialisation of the country, saying “what we need is a little help here and a little assistance there and the potentials for growth in us will be unleashed.”

During the three-day conference of the association, which was established 10 years ago as a platform for FUTA Muslim students to meet after their graduation and share experiences of the outside world, awards were conferred on outstanding members including Tijani Ahmed, the pioneer First Class Muslim graduate of the institution and first President of FUTAMGA and posthumously on Alhaji Ojo Usamat, the first Imam of the university’s Muslim Students’ Society (MSS) among others.

A lecture titled “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Islamic Perspectives”, was delivered by Dr. Abideen Olaiya while a keynote address was delivered by the Chairman of FUTA Muslim community, Alhaji Tijani Ahmed who also represented the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola.

In his welcome address, Buliaminu, who expressed the desire of the association to assist the Muslim community and the university in general in areas of needs, tasked participants to contribute to the development of their Alma Mata saying “that we are scattered across the world is sure but that Islam binds us together is surer, using FUTA as a converging point.”