INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

In Nigeria the birth of a child is heralded with fanfare and joy. The dream of any family is to educate the child to acquire appropriate skills so as to contribute his quota to the development of his society when employed. This view is further entrenched in the National Policy of Education as encapsulated in one of the five main objective of Nigeria’s national development plan which is the building of a land full of bright and opportunities for all citizens. To facilitate the attainment of this objective, the skills acquisition at all levels had to be oriented towards meeting the demands and aspirations for the common good of the society. In this direction, the government operating the different levels of education is over burdened, especially with increase in population to providing adequate infrastructural equipment and personnel for imparting the required skills for national development. Therefore, the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) goes further to state that government welcomes and encourages the participation of local communities, individual and other organizations that will lubricate the process of graduate employment through the provision of learning materials in schools, establishment of institutions and skills acquisition centres across the country (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004).

An employed person is capable of effective participation in the development of the society. According to International Labour Organization (ILO) as cited by European Union Labour Force Survey (EULFS) (2006) employed persons are those aged 16-74years who during the week of the survey performed work, even for just one hour in that week, for pay, profit or family gain or were not at work but had a job or business from which they may be temporary absent because of illness, holiday, industrial dispute and educationtraining. In another perspective, Economic Concept (2012) sees employment as an engagement of a person in some occupation, business, trade or profession. For the purposes of the work, employed person is any person within the age range of 18-70years who works for himself or somebody during the period of the survey. In Nigeria, 18 years is the entering point for voting in elections and entry to higher institutions, while 70years is the highest retirement age in government sector in Nigeria. Self
employed implies working for yourself, family or employing others to work for you. While, working for somebody connotes working for government, private organizations or individuals. In Nigeria, the three tiers of government are the highest employer of labour followed by multinational corporations and companies. However, the dream of any person if employed is to effectively participate in the development of his society but the current state of graduate
unemployment turns the dream to a nightmare.

Unemployment signs are readily visible in our society but difficult to define as it is a very complex phenomenon that involves issues related to that of lay-off workers, absentee employee as a result of illness or students in school. The view point of unemployment in developed countries varies from that of developing countries due to level of industrialization that characterizes the society. According to International Labour Organization as cited by European Union Labour Force Survey (2006), unemployed persons comprise persons aged 16-74 years who are of three groups: (a) Without work during the week of the survey, that is neither had a job nor were at work (for one hour or more) in paid employment or self-employment; (b) currently available for work, that is, will be available for paid employment or self-employment before the end of the two weeks following the week of the survey; (c) actively seeking work, that is, had taken specific steps in the four week period ending with week of the survey.