Although the government, its agencies, and other key stakeholders are aware of the relevance of entrepreneurship in enhancing and sustaining national growth and development through more job creation, and the strengthening of the nation’s industrial base, they have failed to give it the deserved attention at tertiary education level. This paper examines the significant role played by creative self-development through effective technical entrepreneurship education at the Nigerian tertiary education level towards tackling the deteriorating problem of unemployment among Nigerian graduates. Being a descriptive study, close-ended questionnaires based on 5-point Likert scale were distributed to a total of 300 respondents comprising undergraduates, lecturing staff, personnel managers, and entrepreneurs from Anambra and Lagos State, and the data generated was tested using the multiple regression techniques (a nonparametric statistical tool). The results showed that although creative selfdevelopment programs upheld by some prominent universities in Nigeria as part of their academic requirements for students, have really played a vital role in reducing the ever-increasing challenges of unemployment among their graduates, a lot of Nigerian graduates still remain unemployable because they have failed to translate their wealth of knowledge acquired into skills required by the labor market for their employment. Based on this fact, it is recommended that the government and all key players in the Nigerian tertiary education system should restructure and restrategize the entrepreneurship education programs of Nigerian universities.

Employment is the lifeline of any economy. “Human development will definitely be grossly undermined and impaired without employment” (Oyebade, 2003). Unemployment remains the major cause of poverty, kidnapping, militancy, robbery, drug trafficking, human trafficking and other major forms of crime in Nigeria, particularly among the youth in the age group of 18-40 years. Young graduates are rolled out annually from the universities and polytechnics nationwide, into the labor market without civil responsibilities carved out or available to accommodate them, and perhaps, properly harness whatever skills they have acquired towards contributing positively to nation building and the economic wellbeing of the country.

Nigeria’s unemployment can be grouped into two categories (Oyebade, 2003):

1. The older unemployed who lost their jobs due to retrenchment, redundancy or bankruptcy; and
2. The younger unemployed who have never tasted what it is to be employed.

A report by the National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP) in 2001 showed that the universities and other tertiary institutions in the country produce an average of 120,000 graduates each year, while another 500,000 school leavers or college graduates are turned out each year, without the hope of any job.¹ These figures must have tripled by now.

Entrepreneurship Development Journal, Tackling Unemployment Hurdle, Nigerian Economy, Creative Self-Development, National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP), A Conceptual Framework.