Education and Unemployment in Nigeria: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

This paper examined the issue of education and unemployment in Nigeria based on the review of extant literature. Despite Nigeria being acclaimed as the ‘giant of Africa’ and the second largest economy in Africa as well as being blessed with abundant human and natural resources ,the country has continued to grapple with a high unemployment rate particularly among the youth and graduates with the severe attendant consequences. The major causes were attributed to the political instability and policy inconsistencies of governments in the socio-economic and educational developments, neglect of the agricultural sector and the inability of higher or university education to provide graduates with the requisites entrepreneurial skills and training to become employers or employable after graduation. Various governments’ intervention strategies have failed to address the unemployment problem due to their un-sustainability and poor implementation. While the education-unemployment gap is widening, the paper suggests that the gap can be bridged by restructuring the education system with more emphasis on entrepreneurship, diversification of the Nigerian economy and re-prioritization of the agricultural sector, among others