One out of 1,500 Corps members qualifiesduring employable skills test

In an employable skills test
conducted by employers of
labour recently in Lagos,
most of the corps members
have through their
performances justified claims
that most graduates are not
employable. The corps
members proved this at a job fair organised by New
Horizons Computer Learning Centre, Lagos, in
collaboration with the Lagos NYSC at the Main
Auditorium of the University of Lagos (UNILAG)
where corps members were subjected to a live job
interview session as part of the exit programmes for
the batch. At the end of the live interview that
featured five corps members from shortlisted entries
of over 1,500 applicants, Mr. Olubiyi Ogundipe, a
First Class graduate of Chemical Engineering from
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) emerged as the
only applicant qualified for employment with New
Horizons as ICT teacher. Ogundipe who was presented
a letter of employment on the spot by Mrs. Dan-Abia
came first in the live interview session watched by
other corps members with a total of 14 points while
the other four candidates had 11, 8, 7 and three
marks respectively. The NYSC Director-General,
Brigadier Nnamdi Okore-Affia while speaking to the
outgoing Batch B 2012 corps members through the
Director, Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship
Development (SAED), Mrs. Mary Dan-Abia, said corps
members should get set for their next lines of action
after their passing out parade slated for today.
According to him, the present practice of NYSC is in
line with the ongoing reforms of the 40 years old
scheme which has the mandate to develop the spirit
of self development, reliance, and entrepreneurship of
corps members. "Have you asked yourselves or make up
your mind on what you want to do after discharge?
Ask yourselves what your visions are. What have I
achieved during the service year. Was it a jamboree of
sorts for 12 months? Am I ready for the employment
market or ready to create wealth around myself? he
asked the corps members. He explained that if they
cannot answer the above questions honestly, then
they still have a lot of thinking and planning to do,
maintaining that life outside the camp will only
favour those who are prepared. On her part, the
NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi while
explaining the purpose of the job fair said, the
pioneer live job interview organised for the Corps
members was basically to further prepare them for
future challenges, stressing that those who are able
to attend the interview test would see firsthand the
nitty-gritty of job interview and also prepare them
as employer of labour. According to Adeyemi, the job
fair would be a symbolic annual event to mark end
of the service year for corps members in the state
and to create a platform for those not cutout for
vocational skills to secure immediate job opportunities
with employers of labour at the ceremony. The
Managing Director, New Horizons Computer Learning
Centres, Mr. Tim Akano tasked corps members on the
need to acquire additional expertise in the
Information and communications Technology in order
to remain relevant in the global ICT driven job
market. He enumerated such fields to include project
management, e-business skill, oracle skill, software
programming, CISCO, Adobe and security skill system
in order to be relevant in problem solving chain in
organization. Vanguard