The Pro-chancellor of Achievers University Owo, Dr Bode Ayorinde has proffered massive industrialization as solution to the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria.
Ayorinde was speaking at the 13th foundation lecture of the Owo-based private University last week Friday.
The former governorship aspirant in the 2020 election in Ondo state, said the fact that graduates are being produced without a place to work should be of great concern to stakeholders in the polity.
The former federal lawmaker said it is alarming that Ondo state has about 10 higher institutions, but no industry that would employ graduates after graduation.
He dismissed the notion that Nigerian graduates are unemployable, asking why they thrived better with their level of education acquired in Nigeria, when they traveled abroad.
“I am going to repeat it, anyone can say the level of education has fallen or otherwise. Gone are those days when you travel to India and return to the country and be employed as a level seven officer. Is the situation the same today?
“If someone who has a pass degree had the opportunity to join a factory, he would be trained and climb through the ladder. But when you have a first class or a second class upper, and there is no where for them to work, then there’s a problem.
Ayorinde added that the solution is industrialization.
“Until the state governments and federal government expand the opportunities for our graduates to work through industrialization, the situation would remain the same.
“These graduates that some have alleged of not employable, whenever they travel abroad, we can see that they come out with the best when given the opportunities,” Ayorinde said.