Labour Market Distortions and University Graduate Unemployment in Nigeria: Issues and Remedies

This study is an attempt to appraise the existing gap between the demand for and supply of university graduates in the Nigerian labour market. The study emphasizes that serious distortions exist in the market for university graduates in Nigeria, giving rise to unacceptable high level of graduate unemployment. The phenomenon of rising graduate unemployment is bound to have serious adverse social and economic consequences on the Nigerian economy. The study traces the problem to the declining quality of education, resulting from inadequate funding, insufficient and outmoded learning materials, poorly trained staff, irrelevant curricula and inadequate information on job vacancies for job seekers in the market. The study recommends, among others, the establishment of labour market information system, a legal framework for labour market information management and improved funding of university education to effectively harness the products of the Nigerian universities for sustainable economic development.