CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The source of quality in education would include well maintained buildings with all required gadgets being conducive to learning, outstanding lecturers, high moral values, excellent examination results, specialization, the support of parents, business, local community and non-governmental organization’s support, adequate facilities, the application of the latest technology, strong and purposeful leadership, care and concern for pupils or students, a balanced curriculum that is, the curriculum that matches the employers’ demand in the labour market (Adeyanju and Olaniyi, 2015).
The quality of graduates in Nigeria is on a rapid decline especially in the area of valuable skills including; communication, technical abilities, human interaction, social, conceptual and analytical capacity (Anho, 2011).
Anho (2011) noted further that the National University Commission (NUC) in 2000 organized a curriculum review debate in collaboration with other stakeholders in the education and observed graduates who left schools between 1995 and 2000; they found out that standards have actually declined in those critical skills. Consequently, the NUC in its statutory responsibility embarked on conducting comprehensive curriculum review exercise to address current and future high level manpower needs, so that the products from the system can actually compete well with their counterparts around the globe. The mechanism for improving and sustaining quality and high standard in the universities has been set by the Federal Government of Nigeria. However, the actual implementation is yet to yield any meaningful results as quality of university graduates whether from the field of Law or other disciplines has continue to generate intensive debates and worries.
In today’s competitive and challenging global world with diverse demands, many countries are facing serious problems of graduate employability (Adesina, 2013). As a result, the higher education sectors are under immense pressure from governments, employers and parents to produce quality graduates that can be economically engaged at the individual, national and global level (Teichler, 2007). Such graduates should possess a combination of attributes that will enable them to take an adaptive and proactive approach to their careers (Bezuidenhout, 2011).
Eurosat (2013) noted that employability is about having the capability to gain initial employment, maintain employment and obtain new employment if required. For the individual, employability depends upon: assets in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes; the way these assets are used and deployed; presentation of assets to potential employers and the context within which the individual works, e.g. labour market and personal circumstances.
This is therefore a key challenge to tertiary institutions in Nigeria, which produces over 300,000 graduates annually; a number that should ordinarily meet the country’s human capital resources needs (Oyesiku, 2010). But employers willing to pay well to attract skilled workers are increasingly finding it difficult to fill job vacancies. Akanmu (2011) opines that products of the Nigerian University system have at different forum been challenged to test their suitability or otherwise to secure few available white collar jobs. He went further to say that the situation is not only sympathetic but embarrassing that the vast human material resources available to the country had not been trained and utilized to the advantage of the country. Thus the undertaking of this study will beam a searchlight on the employability of law graduates in Lagos State universities.