Vocational Education and Self-Employment Among Youth: Evidence from Lagos and Ogun States

This study generated empirical evidence on the relationship between vocational education and self-employment outcomes among youth in Lagos and Ogun States, South West Nigeria. While vocational education is frequently promoted as a pathway to self-employment and entrepreneurship, rigorous panel and tracer study evidence within Nigeria's Southwest labor market remains limited. The study employed a tracer study and survey design, following 500 vocational education graduates over an 18-month period across both states. Probit regression analysis was used to identify predictors of self-employment entry. Findings showed that 39 percent of graduates entered self-employment within 18 months, a significantly higher rate than the 17 percent observed among a comparison group of secondary school arts graduates. Vocational qualification type, access to startup finance, entrepreneurship training duration, and family business background were the strongest predictors of self-employment entry. Graduates in tailoring, food processing, and ICT servicing demonstrated the highest self-employment rates. The study recommends that Lagos and Ogun State Governments formalize post-graduation enterprise support through the Bank of Industry's youth lending window, develop incubation centres co-located with technical colleges, and integrate multi-session entrepreneurship training into all vocational programmes. These findings provide actionable evidence for policymakers linking vocational education to youth enterprise development in Southwest Nigeria. Keywords: vocational education, self-employment, youth, Lagos, tracer study.