ABSTRACT
This paper investigated the extent to which entrepreneurship helped to reduce the youth unemployment in Nigeria for the period 1980-2017. It outlines the initiatives taken by the Government to curtail unemployment and also outlines the challenges and prospects of the development of entrepreneurship the researcher used tables and simple percentages to show the correlation in trend between entrepreneurship development programmes and youth unemployment in Nigeria. Findings from the study revealed that such policies and initiatives by the Government has not affected the rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria. This is due to corruption, inadequate and inefficient infrastructural facilities and maladministration. The study recommends that the Government (policy makers) should genuinely recognize the essence of entrepreneurship in Economic development and provide enabling environment for the youth to be gainfully employed. This can be achieved by launching and executing entrepreneurship development programmes not only in the urban centres but also in rural areas.