The Future of Education

Data shows that unemployment rates are increasing across the globe at an alarming pace. Moreover, the adverse effects of high unemployment among higher institution graduates in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised. The implications are daunting on both socio-economic and political fronts. The social implications of unemployment of higher institution graduates are first felt at the individual and household level before extending to the entire society and consequently the economy. With less experience and fewer skills than many experienced adults, young higher institution graduates often encounter particular difficulty accessing work. In the developing world, high youth unemployment represents lost potential for national economic transformation, and high numbers of economically frustrated youth may contribute to social instability. Developing regions with markedly high higher institution graduates’ unemployment rates include North Africa (26.6%), the Middle East (24.0%), and Southeast Europe/Former CIS states (22.6%). (ILO 2011).  The number of unemployed persons globally in 2017 is forecast to stand at just over 201 million – with an additional rise of 2.7 million expected in 2018 – as the pace of labour force growth outstrips job creation, according to the ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2017  (WESO). Across Nigeria, the growing ranks of higher institution graduates who are made homeless today arise from unemployment. Some of the major implications of high unemployment among such graduates to a country like Nigeria with wide spread corruption and bad governance, increase apathy, cynicism and despondency. Many people become increasingly individualistic and exclusively pre-occupied with the problems of survival or subsistence. They show little or no concern for governance activities, policies and programmes. However, this research engages an extensive review of literature to examine the interventionist roles of employers in the higher institutional learning process as a means of curbing the menace of unemployment and enhancing the employability of graduates in Nigeria. The study recommended programmes that employers could engage in to resolve this dilemma of Unemployability among graduates of higher institutions in Nigeria.

Keywords: Graduates’ employability, Youth employability, Higher institution graduates, Employers’ interventionist role, Unemployability, Education in Nigeria;