Unemployment Reduction in Nigeria’s Economy: The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Option

This position paper examined the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) option in unemployment reduction in Nigeria’s economy. The paper began by explaining the meaning of unemployment, highlighted the historical development of unemployment in Nigeria, analyzed the problems of unemployment in Nigeria’s economy, examined the meaning of TVET, assessed the impact of TVET on unemployment in Nigeria’s economy, and identified strategies for acquiring TVET and reducing unemployment in Nigeria’s economy. The paper concluded that unemployment is one of the major causes of poverty in Nigeria’s economy. It intensified in the greater parts of the 1970s. in the present circumstances, there are increased cases of kidnapping, prostitution, hired assassination, armed robbery, militancy and insurgency in the country. These problems of unemployment can be combated and reduced to the barest minimum through technical and vocational education and training, by the citizens acquiring basic skills and knowledge to be gainfully employed. The paper suggested among others that the government should establish and equip TVET institutions with modern state of the art facilities to enhance the acquisition of requisite skills for paid or self-employment; the government, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations, private individuals, and others should provide TVET graduates with micro credit loans to enable them establish micro businesses and become self-employed in their respective acquired skills in the country.