Abstract
Youth unemployment remains one of Nigeria's most tangible socio-economic challenges, despite the multiple government interventions and social policy initiatives. The present study critically examines the impacts of social policies on Nigerian youth unemployment, focusing on programs such as the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), N-Power, and the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWiN!). The research employs a qualitative approach, and secondary data from government reports, policy documents, and scholarly literature are employed to analyze the performance and limitations of such interventions. The results indicate that although these social policies have created short-run employment opportunities and skill development platforms, they have failed to contribute meaningfully towards the issue in the long run because of limitations like policy inconsistency, corruption, weak implementation strategies, and inadequate funding. Other structural problems in the economy, including educational outcome-labor market demand mismatches, further exacerbate the youth unemployment issue. The research also explores how regional inequality and socio-political instability affect the equitable distribution and functioning of these schemes. It concludes that social policies can adequately fight youth unemployment only if there is a shift toward long-term, sustainable economic planning, government transparency, and a close relationship between educational curricula and the demands of the market. The paper proposes greater inter-agency collaboration, uniform policy monitoring and assessment mechanisms, and increased investment in vocational and entrepreneurial training. Lastly, addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria will require more than isolated interventions; it requires an integrated and long-term policy commitment that addresses the structural forces of the Nigerian economy.
Keywords
Youth Unemployment, Social Policies, Nigeria, N-Power, NSIP, YouWiN!, Policy Implementation, Economic Planning, Labour Market
Citations
IRE Journals:
Ayomikun Olugbode
"The Impact of Social Policies on Youth Unemployment in Nigeria." Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 1 2025 Page 812-822
IEEE:
Ayomikun Olugbode
"The Impact of Social Policies on Youth Unemployment in Nigeria." Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(1)
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IRE Journals is an open access online journals established with an aim to publish high quality of research work in various diciplines. We have more than 6 years in publications. Over 2500+ papers already published.
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