The Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Saka Matemilola, has lamented the declining relevance of graduates produced by Nigerian tertiary institutions, saying many lack the knowledge and practical skills required to meet industry needs.
The monarch attributed the development to a widening disconnect between academia and industry, warning that employers had for decades struggled to recruit graduates who could seamlessly fit into the workplace.
Oba Matemilola made the remarks in Abeokuta during the unveiling of a 10 gigabits per second fibre optic infrastructure and smart campus initiative at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, developed in partnership with an advanced technology provider.
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The smart campus initiative is expected to modernise digital infrastructure at the polytechnic, potentially helping bridge some of the practical skills gap the monarch identified in his remarks.
Traditional rulers have increasingly used public platforms to weigh in on Nigeria’s education and employability challenges, reflecting growing concern across multiple sectors of society over graduate unemployment and skills mismatches.
Education stakeholders at the event called for closer collaboration between universities, polytechnics and industry to ensure curricula remain aligned with the practical skills employers actually require.
