Youth, unemployment and incubation hubs in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Unemployment is a social problem that affects a large percentage of Nigerians, directly and indirectly. It can lead to an increase in poverty in the country. Nigeria is a densely populated nation, with youths making up the largest share of the population and with an alarming number of them unemployed. Several avenues have been established to help solve the problem of unemployment, the creation of incubation hubs being one of them. Incubation hub spaces provide domicile startups various types of support in order to aid their growth and development and, ultimately, help them solve social problems, create jobs and improve the lot of the nation at large. Incubation hub spaces, however, have not received much attention in the scholarly literature as pertains to job creation and youth unemployment in Nigeria. Through comprehensive qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, this article explores the subject in southwest Nigeria. Research questions this article answers include: What are incubation hubs? How have they developed in Nigeria? How do youths benefit from their existence? What is the impact of this general benefit for youths and the state of unemployment in the nation? This article makes a significant contribution to knowledge about incubation hub spaces and their impact on youth unemployment as there is a dearth of work on this specific area.