Degrees With Lowest Employment Prospects In Nigeria

Certainly there is no degree that guarantees one a job in and by itself however given the current economic situation and the fast pace of economic and technological shifts in the continent and Nigeria in particular there are degrees you would be better off not investing your time and resources to acquire as opportunities afforded in those areas are increasingly getting eroded. If however you have a degree in any of them and finding it tough to make career headway it’s time to put on your thinking cap.

Not all degrees are created equal before employers; some are actually becoming obsolete and have less competitive advantage in the labor market of today.

1. General Arts

General arts cover anything from art history to painting/sculpture. In the western world and developed countries having a degree in the arts could fetch one decent job opportunities several years ago. After the depression however and with many European economies still struggling to recover it’s becoming increasingly tough to find opportunities for majors in such areas like archeology, painting/fine art, history etc.

Over here in Nigeria the harsh economic conditions mean that if you invest your time in any of these fields you may have to try out setting up on your own and even that is not easy given the conditions of doing business in Nigeria. The opportunities for these sort of degrees are shrinking and people with the academic credentials thinking to get themselves a job in related field would have to do a lot of innovative and proactive thinking. Career Counsellors advise those who want to study such things as art, dance, and music to have a specific strategy. Sometimes a way out could be getting a higher degree (such as Masters) and going into teaching.

2. Humanities and Liberal Arts

If you love sitting, thinking about the intricacies of life and expounding on theories of existence or analysing political theories and events there may not be enough opportunities to do that in real life with your philosophy or political science degree and earn good money.

Humanities and Liberal Art degree courses like Anthropology, Political Science, Philosophy and many more do not give the graduates who possess them specific in-road into the employment market. Unlike professional courses like Engineering, and the Business fields having a degree in any of the Humanities may not really point one to a specific career direction. The opportunities are equally not clear-cut which is why many holders of Humanities degrees find their way into the academia. Making a career headway with these degrees with require a better strategy from the person concerned.

3. Education

Unless you are willing to take higher degrees and pursue teaching opportunities at higher levels of the education ladder having an education degree is hardly going to get you the best jobs. A survey of the pay for education degree holders who teach in secondary schools across the country show it is hardly worth the expenses incurred in acquiring the degree. When you remember that non-education degree holders also battle for teaching jobs with those who hold education majors the reality of the situation gets clearer.

The only way a graduate degree holder in Education will do better is either to go for higher qualifications and try to break into higher level teaching or do a career switch entirely and go for higher qualifications in a different field that has more career prospects.


4. Religious Studies

Given the way churches and self styled pastors are springing up in every nook and cranny it should appear that splurging money on a religious studies degree will present the holder with bright prospects. However nothing can be further from the truth. Except you are willing to plunge in and open your own church down the street, become a quran clutching preacher etc there are hardly any existing opportunities for you to explore if you have a religious studies degree and wish to exploit opportunities therein. The only ones that come to mind is becoming a Religious Educator, working in religious establishments (if those even exist in the formal way) as Chaplain, Instructors, in Administration, Fundraising etc. The picture is not at all appetizing

5. Mass Communication

In considering Mass Communication we had a struggle with choosing a few other courses ahead of mass communication but at the end the argument was too much against mass communication degree.

The sheer volume and number of mass communication students and graduates in many higher institutions across the country mean that anyone holding a mass communication degree and hoping to pursue a related career with it had better pray and look for a superior strategy.

The increasing introduction of media technology is eating away at the former strongholds of mass communication graduates. Reporters and Journalists find the rug being gradually pulled of their feet as bloggers and writers who hitherto knew nothing about mass communication take over the business of news discovery and sharing. Newspapers and Television are no longer holding the baton in exclusive control of the media business. For mass communication majors who wish to find and pursue the right careers they need to understand the change in mass media and communication tools and acquire the right skills.