More than 20,000 tertiary students have passed through Enactus Nigeria’s entrepreneurship and leadership programme over the past 25 years, the organisation has said, amid growing concerns over youth unemployment and the ability of formal education to prepare young Nigerians for the labour market.

The Country Director of Enactus Nigeria, Michael Ajayi, disclosed this in a statement ahead of the organisation’s 2026 National Competition, scheduled to hold on Thursday in Lagos.

Ajayi said the debate over the relevance of university education to wealth creation had intensified in recent years, partly driven by high-profile accounts of individuals who achieved financial success without obtaining university degrees.

He, however, warned that such narratives could undermine investment in human capital development at a time when Nigeria continues to contend with a large pool of unemployed and underemployed young people.

The debate has also strengthened calls for greater emphasis on practical and industry-relevant skills, particularly as employers continue to highlight gaps between graduates’ academic qualifications and workplace requirements.

According to Ajayi, Enactus Nigeria seeks to bridge part of that gap by combining classroom learning with practical projects. Under the programme, students work in multidisciplinary teams to identify problems in their communities, develop interventions and implement projects aimed at creating social or economic value.

The organisation’s annual national competition will bring together student teams from tertiary institutions across the country to present their projects to a panel of business executives and industry representatives.

The winning team will represent Nigeria at the Enactus World Cup in Brazil later in the year.

The 2026 competition, which will hold at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, is themed “Re-Imagining Transformation.”

Ajayi said the competition also provides an avenue for businesses and other potential funders to identify student-led ventures with prospects for further development.

Ajayi called on corporate organisations, development finance institutions and philanthropic organisations to support the transition of student innovations into businesses capable of creating jobs.

The call comes against the backdrop of persistent concerns over youth unemployment, graduate underemployment and the quality of skills available to young people entering Nigeria’s labour market.

Nigerian tertiary institutions have also continued to face challenges including inadequate funding, infrastructure deficits and limited links between academic training and industry needs.

These challenges have increasingly fuelled interest in skills-development initiatives involving businesses, development organisations and other private-sector actors.

Enactus Nigeria said the 2026 competition is expected to provide a platform for participating students to showcase projects developed around social and economic challenges in their communities.