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On Saturday, March 15, 2014, about 16 job seekers were confirmed dead, and over 119 people were injured at several recruitment centres for the Nigeria Immigration Service. The tragedy occurred due to overcrowding, stampedes, and panic among the 6.5 million people who had gone to recruitment centres across all 36 states of Nigeria and its capital Abuja, to be screened for 4,000 immigration job vacancies.
Unemployment has been a direct cause of mortality for many Nigerians. Low levels of education are a major factor in the country’s 35% unemployment rate, but even education isn’t a sure shield from the menace. Over 25 million of Nigeria’s unemployed hold graduate and postgraduate degrees from tertiary institutions. Recognised polytechnics and universities dispense about 600,000 graduates each year but with no employment within reach, the more proactive ones try to acquire the needed skills to become entrepreneurs or to fill a skill gap and compete for limited corporate jobs that have no direct relation to their academic backgrounds.
Globalisation has melted geographical barriers and made it possible for Nigerians to compete for corporate jobs virtually. There is a great demand for talent, especially in the local and global tech ecosystems. No matter their educational background, Nigerians can qualify for these highly demanded tech roles as long as they acquire the necessary skills. However, there is little access to gaining these tech skills for these unemployed graduates.
Online and physical learning organisations that offer paid learning resources do so at prices beyond the purchasing power of graduates who are not gainfully employed. The internet offers access to a plethora of courses, books, and communities that can teach these skills for free, but in a country where the average person lives under a dollar a day, learning on the internet is expensive. There is a high penetration of mobile phones among graduates, but they…
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