Graduate Unemployment: Implications for Educational Planning in Nigeria.

The paper investigates the problem of graduate unemployment and its underlying effects on the Nigerian economy vis-à-vis the role of educational planners. It emphasizes that graduate unemployment represents colossal waste in human capital development. The paper outlined some causes of graduate unemployment to include incongruity between the number of graduates and the existing job opportunities, obsolete curriculum, vocational and technical education not inbred in the university, and a poor foundation for entrepreneurship. The paper outlined some consequences of unemployment and presents entrepreneurship education as a panacea to unemployment. The paper noted some strategies required by educational planners to cater for those in the labour market. Some employable skills required at the labour market were also revealed. The paper recommends a commitment to intellectual and attitudinal empowerment through educational planning to engender tenacious self-reliance and egalitarian society in the long run. It also recommends developing a more practical-based programme and prioritizing curriculum reform amongst others to enhance job creation that will promote graduate employability at the Labour market.