Fixing youth unemployment: Why Nigerian universities must build entrepreneurs, not job-seekers  

When Blessing Udeh left university, she had a degree and big dreams, but no clear path forward.

Months turned into years of job hunting, until she was convinced by her aunt to try fashion business, a small business idea that grew into a brand with clients across the country.

Her experience raises a critical question: why are not more Nigerian students taught to think business even while on campus?

As Nigeria grapples with rising unemployment and a widening gap between graduates’ skills and industry needs, experts emphasise the need for targeted-skills education to equip graduates with practical and in-demand skills that align with the evolving job market.

According to a World Bank report, one of the striking signs of failure of the skills development system in place is reflected in the inability of many educated Nigerians to find productive work, a problem that appears to be worsening.

Sunday Adébisi, director of the Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Centre at the University of Lagos, explained that beyond taking entrepreneurship as a course, there is a great need for specialisation, hence, the establishment of the centre in the institution.

Adebisi emphasised that the centre has created a ‘Fireside Chat,’ where students will sit at the feet of big chief executive officers to learn the possibility of creating what lasts.

He noted that this is because many of the students at their young age, are innocent, looking for what to do with their time, and do not even know their rights from the left, hence, do not know that failure can be part of business success.

No fewer than 1,000 students of the University of Lagos have benefited from the trainings and financial support by the institution’s Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre, in efforts to nurture entrepreneurs and encourage job creation among undergraduates.

Experts argue that Nigeria can upskill its workforce through targeted education by focusing on industry-academia partnerships, integrating practical, real-world learning into curricula, leveraging available platforms such as entrepreneurship, and vocational training, among others to foster a culture of business, development and management.

Olajumoke Familoni, a professor of entrepreneurship/president of ICLED Business School, emphasised the need to fix the surging graduate unemployment and employability.

“Nigeria needs a training system that transforms students into confident, skilled professionals who are prepared to compete in today’s global workforce, and/or become job creators, contributing to Nigeria’s economic development,” she said.

Experts believe many youth lack entrepreneurial training and the financial enablement to get their dreams off the ground and to transform their dreams into reality.

Educationists believe that the reality of Nigerian education is that the country boasts of a vibrant youth population, with over 60 percent of its people under the age of 35.

However, the discourse on human capital extends beyond the mere presence of people to encompass their productivity and capacities to generate socioeconomic outputs.

It is sometimes disturbing that Nigerian youth are lacking in entrepreneurial skills, because looking backward to the pre-colonial era and even during the colonial regime, in every community, before you walk half a kilometer, you will see a market.

In every family either the mother or father, was doing one or two things in terms of enterprise; experts say, that is what really make a community, a country to build sustainable enterprise.

Going back to the basis requires that learning institutions should begin to expose the youngsters to what it takes to run a successful business, backed with academic knowledge.

Developed countries such as the USA, UK, Germany and Canada, commerce has gone beyond the informal level, and has become a way of life, people can use to build the society

These countries leveraged SMEs to develop their economies, and not the Rockefellers. About 80 percent of businesses in these advanced countries that are creating wealth and making people to pay taxes and get jobs are the small businesses, such as the coffee shops.

Reimagining Nigerian universities as hubs of innovation will require investment, curriculum reform, and strong partnerships with the private sector.

However, the payoff is clear: a generation equipped not just with degrees, but with the mindset and tools to build sustainable ventures.

In a country where jobs are scarce, the ability to create them may be the most valuable skill of all.