The Role of Skills Acquisition in Mitigating Youth Unemployment in Rivers State, Nigeria

This study focused on the role of skills acquisition in mitigating youth unemployment in Rivers State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design guided the study. The population comprised 51 Industrial Technology PhD Students in Rivers State University, Port-Harcourt and 38 Industrial Technology PhD Students in Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. No sampling was done as the population was manageable. Three research questions were answered and three hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance. A questionnaire titled “Skills Acquisition in Mitigating Youth Unemployment Questionnaire†was developed to elicit responses from the respondents. The instrument was validated by three experts. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach Alpha Reliability coefficient. The reliability coefficient achieved was 0.82. Statistical Mean was used to answer the research questions while standard deviation was used to determine the homogeneity in the responses of the respondent and z-test was used to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. The study found that low standard of education, rapid population growth, rapid expansion of the educational system, corruption, mass poverty, illiteracy among the youth; among others are some of the causes of unemployment in Rivers State. The study also showed that skill acquisition plays the vital role in creating employment opportunities, and also helping to groom youths to be self-reliant. It was recommended among others that Government should establish well-equipped acquisition centres in all Local Government Areas of Rivers State for the training of youths.