Secretarial Skills and the Challenges of Youth Unemployment in Ogun State, Nigeria
Abstract
The issues of unemployment in Nigeria have become a source of concern to collective authority and citizens in general. The study examined secretarial skills and the challenges of youth unemployment in Ogun State, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. A total of 278 undergraduates of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Tai Solarin University of Education, F ederal Polytechnic Ilaro and Abiola Moshood Polytechnic represented the sample size of the study. Researchers developed questionnaire tagged: Secretarial Skills and Youth Unemployment Questionnaire (SSYUQ) with 0.84 reliability coefficient which was used for data collection. Research questions 1 and 2 were answered using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation while research question 3 was answered through multiple regression analysis. The findings of the study revealed that there are significant predictors causing youth unemployment in Ogun State which include high rate of graduates’ turnout, lack of employability skills, lack of selfreliance skills, inadequate of entrepreneurial skills, collapse of manufacturing industries, unstable electricity supply and lopsided curriculum design and implementation. Possession of secretarial skills such as communication, analytical/research, flexibility/adaptability/managing multiple priorities, multicultural sensitivity/awareness, planning/organizing, result-driven, problem-solving/reasoning/creativity, interpersonal, innovation, self-improvement and information and communication technology skills could help an individual in solving the challenges of unemployment in Ogun State and that about 66% of the va riance in youth unemployment was accounted for by the linear combination of the secretarial skills. The study recommends among other things that the government and management of tertiary institutions in Ogun State should provide more funds to the department of Secretarial Administration or Business Education in order to provide better working condition for the staff and the needed materials for instruction delivery. More of the secretarial administration instruction should be based on practical aspect as this will better open eyes of the students towards the benefits of the programm e for solving youth unemployment.
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