Evidence of the ugly rate of graduate unemployment in Nigeria is commonplace. For instance, in Kaduna State, the government has commenced the screening of about 44,000 applicants, including M.Sc. degree holders for 25,000 teaching positions in its primary schools.
A notice board containing the list of applicants at Rimi College, situated within Kaduna metropolis detailed two applicants with M.Sc. degrees in Biochemistry and Water resources.
It was gathered that an examination was conducted in 130 centres across the 23 local government areas of the state for the applicants, amid tight security, with officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and police personnel stationed in strategic places of the centres.
According to the Permanent Member, Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, Mrs. Mary Ambi, only those who scored the minimum points and possessed the required qualification would be contacted for the oral interview later.
Earlier, the state government had announced plans to sack 21,780 primary school teachers for allegedly failing a competency test and replace them with new ones. The development was however rejected by state wing of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT. Meanwhile, the union took the state government to the National Industrial Court, asking the court to determine if government has the mandate to conduct the test.
The NUT had filed an injunction asking the court to restrain the state government from dismissing or disengaging any teacher on the basis of the test. Justice Lawal Mani, in his ruling last December, granted the prayer pending the determination of the substantive suit and adjourned the case until February 6, 2018.
