Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has charged Nigeria’s research institutions and universities to produce entrepreneurs and job creators rather than job seekers.

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who is the visitor to the Adamawa State University (ADSU), Mubi, gave the charge on Saturday, stressing that growing unemployment requires focus on equipping students with self-employment skills.

The governor said during the 5th-13th convocation of the university, which witnessed the formal exit of over 11,000 students of the past nine academic sessions, including 92 with first-class degrees, that universities are needed to chart the way from widespread unemployment.

“Our research institutions, especially Adamawa State University, must be deliberate in retooling their prospectus to create an outright departure from hatching job seekers to producing entrepreneurs,” Fintiri said.

He added that ADSU has the advantage of already possessing a Centre for Entrepreneurship & Skills Development, which he charged to strengthen itself for maximum impact.

Speaking in the same vein, Chancellor of the University, Muhammad Ahmed who is also the Emir of Pindiga in Gombe State, congratulated the graduands for endeavoring to complete their degree programmes despite high unemployment rate that discourages many from going to school.

The chancellor said, “I align myself with the university management to invest heavily on the teaching of both theoretical and practical aspects of entrepreneurship skills development as a compulsory component of the curriculum for all its undergraduate students, bearing in mind that self-employment plays a great role in national development and may very well prove to be the only way forward for very many of our youths.”

Both the chancellor and a former governor of the state, Boni Haruna during whose administration the Adamawa State University was established in 2002, bagged honorary doctorate degrees of the university during the 5th-13th Combined Convocation ceremony which took place at the Convocation Ground of the university in Mubi.