Dataset on Apprenticeship and Entrepreneurial Characteristics of Fresh Graduates in Nigeria

This dataset presents data collected through a survey of fresh graduates who were undergoing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Programme across ten states in Nigeria. The data were collected from 16,296 young men and women who have newly graduated from universities and polytechnics across Nigeria, and who have just been mobilized for the compulsory one-year national service. Designed to form the baseline for a longitudinal study to assess the impact of the largest apprenticeship-based entrepreneurship intervention for young people in Nigeria, and arguably in Africa, the survey sought to fully profile the entrepreneurship and apprenticeship characteristics of the graduates. It assessed entrepreneurship interest, background and experience as well as apprenticeship attitude of the graduates. The usefulness of the dataset is many folds. The data can be used to assess the impacts of the over-a-decade old introduction of compulsory entrepreneurship courses in the Nigerian university system that produced most of the respondents. It can also be used to quantify the potential pool of future entrepreneurs among the highly educated Nigerian youth. The full entrepreneurship and apprenticeship profile of a representative sample of educated young people in the largest and most populous nation in Africa is useful for researchers, donors and policymakers in characterizing and designing appropriate interventions to boost self-employment among the youth as a way of reaping Africa’s demographic dividend.