AN ASSESSMENT OF EMPLOYABILITY SKILL POTENTIALS OF NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY GRADUATES

The study examines the employability skill potentialities of graduates of Nigerian Universities from the perspectives of employers and employees using graduates of estate management in Lagos metropolis as the case study. The objective of the study is to ascertain the employability skills often sought after by employers of such graduates in the real estate industry. Data for the study was obtained through the use of structured questionnaires distributed to the registered employers and employees in the estate surveying and valuing firms. Sixty questionnaires were administered to the respondents (20 to employees and 40 to employers) in Ikeja with a return rate of 75%. The data so obtained were analyzed with the aid of simple statistical tools such as percentages, mean and relative importance index among others to give a clearer picture of the important skills often sought after by the employers of labour in the real estate industry. The study revealed from the view point of the employers that most graduates of estate management in the country lacked some basic but fundamental soft and hard skills expected of them in practice. The study recommends inculcating some of the identified skills lacked by the graduates to the curriculum of Estate Management Departments in the Nigerian Universities.