In today’s Nigeria, holding a university degree no longer guarantees employment, much less a fulfilling career. Across the country, thousands of young graduates pour out of tertiary institutions every year, many full of ambition but with nowhere to go. They carry degrees often earned with great sacrifice and hope into a job market that is saturated, poorly structured, and increasingly disinterested in traditional academic qualifications. The consequences are not just personal; they are systemic, altering the nature of employment, creating a generation of underutilised talent, and exposing the widening disconnect between academic training and economic reality.
The root of the problem lies in an education system that mass-produces graduates without adequate consideration for the demands of the labour market and a system that equates academic achievement with career success.University education in Nigeria has become more of a default path than a deliberate career decision. Students choose courses not because they align with market needs or their own aptitudes, but because they meet admission requirements, please parents, or are simply the only options available.
From an early age, Nigerian children are programmed to believe that acquiring a university degree is the ultimate mark of intelligence and a guaranteed path to prosperity. The result is a national obsession with higher education that has led to the proliferation of universities; public and private, churning out graduates in disciplines that the economy neither demands nor rewards. Year after year, hundreds of thousands graduate into a labour market that has no place for them.
What makes this even more problematic is the rigidity of Nigeria’s educational framework. Many universities continue to offer courses and design curricula that are relics of colonial and post-independence eras. Little effort has been made to align academic training with contemporary market realities. Students are taught theory-heavy content with little to no exposure to practical, hands-on experiences. Graduates leave the university system armed with certificates but lacking in critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills, qualities employers now prioritise over academic distinctions.
This disconnect between education and employability is widening by the day. Industries in Nigeria are evolving rapidly, especially in sectors such as tech, digital media, creative industries, and renewable energy. These fields require specific technical competencies, entrepreneurial mindsets, and flexible learning approaches that Nigeria’s traditional university model fails to provide. The result is a growing demand for alternative talent pipelines, coding bootcamps, digital skill academies, vocational institution, that are stepping in to fill the void. As a result, institutions churn out thousands of graduates in fields like business administration, political science, sociology, and public administration; disciplines with limited absorptive capacity in a labour market already bloated with similar profiles.
Meanwhile, technical fields requiring practical expertise such as plumbing, welding, software engineering, and industrial manufacturing remain underserved. Paradoxically, while Nigeria faces critical shortages in essential skilled labour, it simultaneously suffers from a glut of university graduates ill-prepared for modern workplace demands. The problem is not only about numbers, it’s about misalignment. Employers complain not of a shortage of applicants, but of a scarcity of candidates with the right competencies, attitude, and real-world skills.
This dissonance between supply and demand is reshaping job markets in very particular ways. First, it has led to the depreciation of the degree as a value indicator. Employers no longer see a university certificate as a reliable proxy for talent or capability. Increasingly, job postings require experience over education, even for entry-level roles. This development has created a vicious cycle: new graduates are unable to gain experience because no one will hire them without it. Many remain trapped in long periods of joblessness or accept internships that offer no pay and limited professional growth.
Second, it has pushed a significant number of young people into informal employment or forced entrepreneurship. From fashion design and photography to content creation and digital marketing, many graduates are now building businesses out of necessity rather than opportunity. While this shift towards entrepreneurship is often celebrated, the context matters. These are not always stories of innovation or vision, but of economic survival. The lack of institutional support, access to credit, and mentoring means most of these businesses remain small, unstructured, and unsustainable.
Furthermore, the pressure of an overcrowded job market has bred intense competition and unhealthy work practices. Some employers take advantage of the desperation by offering exploitative wages or subjecting staff to toxic work conditions. Others adopt a “hire and fire” approach, aware that for every role, there are hundreds of equally qualified applicants waiting in line. The glut of graduates has diluted bargaining power, eroded job security, and distorted employer-employee dynamics in ways that undermine productivity and workplace harmony.
Yet the universities keep admitting. The National Universities Commission (NUC) reports over 2 million students currently enrolled in Nigerian universities. Each year, nearly 600,000 graduate into an economy that is failing to expand at a pace necessary to absorb them. The majority of these graduates hold degrees in fields with dwindling demand and limited capacity to provide jobs without additional skills or experience.
This oversupply is reshaping the job market in ways both visible and insidious. It has led to severe underemployment. Many graduates now take up jobs far beneath their qualification levels, simply to survive. It is no longer strange to find a university graduate working as a Point-of-Sale (POS) operator, sales attendant, Uber driver, or even domestic help. For others, the certificate becomes redundant in a digital economy where skills, not degrees open doors. Consequently, thousands have turned to freelance platforms, online gigs, and small-scale entrepreneurship not out of passion but out of necessity.
Also, it is inflating the entry-level job market to absurd levels. Positions that once required basic literacy now demand bachelor’s degrees. Employers, overwhelmed with the volume of applicants, raise the bar unnecessarily high, knowing that the pool is saturated. In turn, this reduces access for non-degree holders and fuels credential inflation, where more education is required for jobs that haven’t fundamentally changed. Over time, this dynamic discourages vocational learning and skews national priorities.
This oversupply is contributing to a silent mental health crisis among young people. Expectations are not being met. Graduates who spent four to six years in university, sometimes navigating strikes and infrastructural deficits, now find themselves stuck at home or working jobs unrelated to their field of study. The psychological toll of joblessness, identity loss, and societal shame is immense. Many suffer in silence, forced to confront a system that sold them a dream and delivered disillusionment.
The private sector, though increasingly aware of these issues, is not positioned to fix them alone. While some companies now run graduate development programmes, skill-building initiatives, and internships, the scale is insufficient to absorb the yearly wave of graduates. Moreover, many employers now actively prioritise candidates with alternative training backgrounds, entrepreneurial experience, or demonstrable skills over traditional university degrees.
What is clear is that Nigeria must urgently reimagine its higher education-to-employment pipeline. A complete overhaul is necessary, not just in how universities teach, but in how society values different forms of knowledge and work. First, career guidance must be embedded into the school system from secondary level. Young people need to understand early on that the world of work is dynamic, and that success doesn’t come from titles or degrees alone. Parents and educators must move beyond the obsession with white-collar professions and embrace the dignity of skilled trades, digital careers, and creative paths.
In addition, Nigerian universities must collaborate more closely with industry players to co-create curricula that reflect the skills actually needed in the workforce. Courses should be responsive to the changing economy, with room for experiential learning, apprenticeships, and entrepreneurship. The outdated practice of teaching theory without context must end. Faculties must be retrained, and assessment systems redesigned to evaluate real-world problem-solving, not rote memorisation.
The government on the other hand, must expand and fund Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions across the country. These institutions have the potential to equip millions with market-relevant skills and reduce the pressure on the university system. In addition, government policy should incentivise private sector investment in skills development, digital training hubs, and alternative certification systems that are recognised by employers.
Beyond structural changes, there is a need for a cultural reset. Society must come to terms with the reality that the future of work has changed. Global trends point towards a skills-based economy, where what you can do matters more than where you went to school. The rise of remote work, AI integration, and digital entrepreneurship demands adaptability, creativity, and lifelong learning traits not taught in lecture halls. Nigeria’s young population is a demographic advantage only if it is properly harnessed. Without that, it becomes a ticking time bomb of frustration, wasted potential, and social instability.
There is also the question of data. Policymakers currently make decisions based on incomplete or outdated labour statistics. A more robust labour market intelligence system is needed to track employment trends, forecast future skills demand, and inform university admission quotas. This will help reduce the blind mass production of graduates in already-saturated disciplines and encourage diversification into new, growth-oriented fields.
The current crisis is not simply about having too many graduates, it is about having too many graduates in the wrong fields, trained in the wrong way, for an economy that has moved on. A university degree, while still valuable, is no longer sufficient in and of itself. The Nigerian job market has shifted, and so must the nation’s approach to education. Degrees must be accompanied by direction, clear pathways to jobs, skills, and purpose. Until this happens, young Nigerians will continue to find themselves in a cruel paradox: educated, ambitious, and yet stranded at the margins of the economy.
