The Chairman, Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, Mr. Christopher Kolade, has said that about 40 million Nigerians need employment.

Kolade said in Ilorin on Tuesday that one of the challenges of graduate unemployment was the inability of the system to absorb the nearly 300,000 graduates being produced by Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions.

He spoke at a sensitisation forum for firms in Kwara State.

His  address was delivered by the Assistant Director and Head of Services, SURE-P, Mr. Anthony Kalu.

Kolade stated that firms readily blame the lack of experience, high cost of maintaining a large workforce and the need to maintain profit above the red line as the reasons for not employing the graduates.

He added that most firms required working experience for new workers' uptake, as they did not wish to spend time and resources on inexperienced employees that might not eventually fit in.

He said most graduates remain unemployed because of their inability to "hit the ground running".

Kolade stated that Graduate Internship Scheme provides solution to this unemployment problem by developing a skill base that firms can benefit from among the nation's graduates at very minimal cost.

He added that the GIS was one of the strategies of the Federal Government to create more awareness and generate more discourse among the citizens on graduate unemployment and what the government was doing to reduce it.

"The GIS programme is one of the interventions of SURE-P. GIS is a platform that provides young graduates with temporary work placement as well as provide a livelihood for upto to 12 months.

"Government also recognises the fact that all stakeholders – Federal Government, state governments, local governments, organised private sector, development organisations, and religious organisations must also resolve to reverse the unemployment trend for it to change.

"This is because Federal Government knows it cannot do this alone and is painfully aware of the fact that manpower development is critical for the attainment of the National Vision 20:2020," he said.

According to Kolade, among the objectives of GIS is the resolve to enhance the employability of at least 50,000 unemployed graduates in the 36 states of the Federation and in the Federal Capital Territory by improving their skill base through work placement.

He stated that on the supply side, over 96,000 unemployed graduates had registered on the GIS portal.

He noted that this is an indication of not just the interest, confidence and hope that these graduates have on the system, but also the seriousness of the challenge of graduate unemployment.

He added that on the demand side, over 2000 firms had so far registered with the scheme nationwide. He, however, said that only about 35 per cent of registered firms had met the FG's minimum requirement for participation.

According to Kolade, in Kwara State 46 organisations have registered and five have been approved to take interns.

"Also, out of the 3,290 that have registered in the state, 21 have been matched to firms and only three have been hired. Clearly, there is the urgent need for firms to participate in this programme and take graduates/interns out of the labour market. This sensitisation is therefore a call to action," Kolade said.