A Systematic Review of the Proposed Educational Interventions in Reducing Youth Unemployment in Nigeria

Aim

This paper reports the results of a systematic review of proposed educational interventions in reducing youth unemployment in Nigeria.

Background

Youth poverty and unemployment in Nigeria has been on the rise in the past couple of years. Many youths cannot find gainful employment despite their willingness to work and make ends meet. Despite the high number of youths enrolled in formal education in Nigeria and the number of graduates being produced each year, job opportunities to absorb these graduates have been limited.

Review Method

A systematic review of articles relating to educational interventions to reduce youth unemployment in Nigeria that was published between 2010 and December 2018 was undertaken using various social science databases. Inclusion criteria were: articles in the English language, focused on participants between ages 18-35 years, and specific to Nigeria. The steps involved included a search of seven databases and google scholar using various search strings developed after various testing by the researcher. The search strings produced 269 articles which were then sorted through a three stages approach using the PRISMA protocol. Using the Endnote online software, duplicates were excluded and removed, and the remaining articles were reviewed by excluding articles that were not relevant to the topic. Articles that did not meet the age criteria or where not specific to Nigeria were also removed.

Results

Twenty-three studies were included in the review. The two types of articles were quantitative and theoretical studies. Four educational interventions were proposed by the authors. They are: Technical and vocational education and training (TVET), entrepreneurship education, public-private partnership (PPP), and career guidance counseling. Entrepreneurship education was advocated to be included at various levels of the Nigerian education system. TVET was proposed to be integrated into the education system as a medium to create job and enable employability skills. PPP and career guidance counseling were also suggested as potential interventions in reducing youth unemployment in Nigeria.

Conclusion

To reduce youth unemployment, attention needs to be given to other forms of education beyond formal training for white collar jobs. Proposed educational interventions should be further studied to examine the effectiveness of these interventions in curbing youth unemployment.