By Lekan Raji, Lagos
The climax of discussion at this year’s “Expedition Conference” of Nigerian Economics Students’ Association, University of Lagos (NESA, UNILAG) held last Thursday was the need for students to acquire soft skills and build a successful academics and career in life.
According to NESA president, Fatimoju Adeshola, the Expedition Conference seeks to bring leadership skills, intellectual and entrepreneurial information and empowerment to students.
He added that the objective of the conference was to avail organisations, professionals and relevant stakeholders the opportunity to meet with smart, resilient students to discuss and address key issues regarding education, leadership and entrepreneurship with the aim of providing practical and global career information on the dynamics of the workplace.
He said, “We hope to spread ideas which curiosity and spark further leading to further innovation in different sectors of our economy, particularly among the gifted and industrious youths of our great nation.”
Speakers at the conference included Favor Olugu, a fashion and style editor of TW magazine, Uzodinma Iweala, a US-based Nigerian author and author of “Beasts of No Nation,” Ukinebo Dare, CEO, Poise Graduate Finishing Academy and Femi Kuti, CEO, Kangpe Health Care Services.
Others were Mr. Adetunji Lamidi, a senior bank executive, Bezhiwa Idakula (Bez), music artiste and Olumide Oworu, an actor and rap artiste.
In her presentation, Ukinebo noted that students should endeavour to acquire diverse knowledge begin to develop positive attitudes towards their vision and goal they want to achieve in life.
She urged them to learn soft skills like positive thinking, good human relations, time management, creative thinking and self evaluation among others.
“These and many others skills are very essential for you as undergraduates because when you graduate from school you will definitely be tested on these areas when you seek for jobs out there. These are skills you acquire on your own by reading specific books. Nobody will teach you all these,” she said.
Also speaking, Oworu emphasized on the need to effectively combine academics with career building as he said identifying ones talents and priority early would facilitate planning in life.
He urged students to ensure they observe available and legitimate opportunities that abound around them saying the society allows them to do more than one thing.
Oworu added, “You cannot be successful alone. You need people’s skills. Learn to be diplomatic and tolerate people. Your relevance to the society is paramount. Impart the society positively and remember education is extremely helpful. It places you in the proportion of the right people in the society.”
