ABSTRACT:

The thrust of this article is to examine the implications of unemployment on Nigeria’s sustainable development. The justification for the study is because of the consequences of unemployment on the socio-economic development of the country. Based on secondary data, the article revealed that unemployment in Nigeria is partly responsible for the rising increase of poverty, disruption of oil production through pipeline vandalization, emergence of deadly groups such as Boko Haram, Niger Delta
Boys, Ombatse, armed robbers, kidnappers and waste of human and material resources that have caused setback in the sustainable development of Nigeria. It is against this background the article recommended that government has to play a prominent role if unemployment is to be reduced to the barest minimum by
intensifying efforts to create more vocational skills acquisition centres, effective government collaboration with the private sector to create more jobs by putting in place a conducive atmosphere for investments, absolute and robust agricultural reforms to attract the unemployed to farming among other measures. These among other measures it is believed will put Nigeria on the right track to sustainable development.