By Kehinde Oluwatayo

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Lack of teaching equipment has been identified as reason Nigerian graduates seem unemployable.

Speaking with The Hope during an interview, a university teacher, Dr Tony Ademeso said Nigerian graduates are not less qualified than their counterparts all over the world.

Ademeso, an Associate Professor of Engineering Geology said most of the curricular in Nigerian universities are patterned after foreign countries where their products seem employable.

“There may be some areas where they could be made relevant to the need of the society, but generally science is the same  all over the world. Chemistry is Chemistry, Agric is Agric .

“That is why it is possible for an academic to leave here and go for a conference in America and they will be speaking the same language.

“The major problem that is affecting our products here is that the equipment, materials and machines that are needed to teach are not readily available.”

Ademeso said learning cannot be effective where a laboratory that is meant to train 10 students are used for 100 students.

He said little can be done by anybody since some of the teachings are done in theory and equipment are not available to teach practicals.

He added that lecturers at times have to look for materials that can replace the real thing, manage it to get the result they want.

“Sometime ago, we needed to do a test and it involved something we call ‘membrane’. We were on it for six months and we could not get it to buy in Nigeria. We had to put condoms together and manipulate it to replace it. That was how we managed till we got to buy from China.

“And that is why you should respect Nigerian lecturers and researchers. At times, these things will work, at times it will fail. So the onus lies with the institutions to provide adequate equipment for teaching and learning as well as research.

“And this is why university lecturers are asking government to work on making the system workable,” he said.

Another thing according to him, is that laws guiding who does what in Nigeria should be implemented by government.

“As geologist, some of the students we train are involved in practical areas. Some have learnt the theory of geophysical exploration and can test for the availability of water in some places. They employed themselves, some in Lagos, Porthacourt, Warri. But government won’t implement the law that is supposed to be guiding the practice.

“For example, nobody should build a house that is more than one or two storey without doing the proper soil test. These are the things that should give jobs to our young graduates.

“But people will go and procure soil test from quack somewhere. So government should ensure these laws are implemented,” he explained.