Abstract

Globally, inequality has persisted with especially the youths excluded from full participation in economic, political and social activities. Relatedly, youth unemployment has been known to undermine economies, threaten the peace and destabilize communities, if unchecked. This study investigates youth unemployment, using the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria, as a case study; with a randomly selected sample size of 1,000 unemployed persons, in the 18–49-year-old age group. It examines the causes of youth unemployment as well as levels of awareness of the UN’s SDG-4 (Quality Education) and SDG-8 (Decent Work) in the working-age population, and the roles of these SDGs and government in combatting unemployment. Frequency and average-mean descriptive statistics of the factors causing youth unemployment indicated low levels of education, lack of employable skills and experience, and poor policies, etc., as predominant causative factors. Regarding the SDGs, the results revealed a low level of awareness and attainment in the population sampled. Education is central to achieving the SDGs; which can, in turn, mitigate unemployment and impel decent work. The introduction of private sector-driven, government-initiated mandatory one-year skills acquisition and developmental schemes for the youths as well as the provision of soft loans for participants to facilitate entrepreneurial ventures are recommended to reduce youth unemployment and promote economic development.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.