Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has advised graduating students of the Mountain Top University to embrace change and disruption if they intend to compete in today’s labour market.
The governor, who was the guest lecturer at the maiden graduation ceremony of the university owned by the Mountain of Fire Ministries, made the call on Friday at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the university in Ibafo, Ogun State, where he delivered a lecture titled: “Future of Job and the World of Work: The Need for Graduates That are Globally Competitive.”
According to the governor, the knowledge acquired in the university becomes obsolete in a short while and needs continuous advancement, urging the graduating students to adopt technology because “jobs of the future will be driven by technology”.
He said: “Many of the things you learnt in university will have grown obsolete even before you complete NYSC. That’s the truth. Fifty or a hundred years down the line, we didn’t know that new technologies would have emerged to disrupt the world as we know it. But it is certain that to thrive in that world, University graduates will need to be fully prepared, they will need to be educated in the tools and the languages of that world, and will need to be able to compete with multitudes of other graduates in the quest for jobs and employment.
“We must also extend this to curriculum transformation. We will not progress in the 21st century using 20th century curricula. Our young people must become comfortable with coding, robotics, 3D printing and other technologies from an early age. Especially in the public school system. Regardless of what academic track our students are on: arts, sciences or social sciences; technological literacy must be a common denominator.”