The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, has emphasized the importance of acquiring practical skills for Nigerian youths to secure employment opportunities.
Delivering the convocation lecture titled “Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning – Prerequisites of the Digital Age” at the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, on Thursday, Professor Oloyede urged Nigerians to prepare for the challenges of the Information Age by taking lifelong learning seriously and being willing to change as circumstances unfold.
He cautioned that university degrees will no longer be the sole determinants of job prospects, but individuals with demonstrable skills will have an advantage.
He said: “For all, the imperative of learning, relearning, and unlearning cannot be overemphasized as the tonic that gives vitality to successful living in today’s Information Age. Those who can learn, relearn, and unlearn are the successful ones, and those without the mindset that accommodates the triad are bound to perpetually lament.
“The world today is totally different from the world inhabited by our forebears. One of the factors responsible for this change is the totality of what makes the Information Age, which is still evolving as technology develops rapidly.
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“The changes in the world provide new opportunities and threats. While there are new opportunities in Information Technology, existing jobs such as typists, receptionists, traditional printers, telephone booth operators, computer operators, factory workers, cashiers, travel agents, fuel attendants, among others, are on the verge of extinction.
“New opportunities will emerge in the high-tech sector, and many skills that were not otherwise taught in traditional schools will be needed. Degrees would no longer be sole guarantors of jobs, but demonstrable skills will.
“In this regard, there won’t be any difference between those who are literate and those who are illiterate without the cutting-edge skills associated with learning, relearning, and unlearning.
“Therefore, the onus of the responsibility lies on everyone to get prepared for the challenges of the Information Age by taking lifelong learning seriously and being willing to change as circumstances unfold.”
