The Role of Numeracy Skills in Graduate Employment in Nigeria

Abstract

This review presents the role of numeracy skills in graduate employment in
Nigeria. The aims are to show how numeracy skills enhance graduate
employability, and outline how it can be improved in an emerging global society. With the dearth of public service jobs and the current drive for private sector driven economy, technologically based companies have emerged with different demands for employment. Also, the desire for optimal productivity from employers demands the graduates to possess apart from the knowledge in the course of study, numeracy skills to enhance their versatility for different job assignments and also reduce redundancy. Hence, this work has revealed that though the problem of lack of adequate numeracy skills may not be unconnected with poor academic background, it is depriving so many a graduate of mouth watery means of livelihood in Nigeria. Based on the foregoing, it is concluded that graduates with poor numeracy skills are likely to remain unemployed when compared to those with competence in numeracy skills. Therefore, identifying numeracy deficiency in undergraduates will help in understanding the students’ fears and as such the students can be encouraged to consider the necessity of developing
numerical skills.