Ogunjimi, Mayowa OlurotimiSheu, Adaramaja LukmanOwolabi, Henry Olumuyiwa2019-06-102019-06-1020110795-3607http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2096It is commonly believed that while the early graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria tend to demonstrate competence at work and life skills while many of the present day graduates show opposite tendencies. The pace of development around the world places a demand on education to optimally contribute to human development by instilling competence and creativity in school products. The demand is heavier on tertiary institutions. The study therefore investigated how tertiary institutions in Nigeria cope with the emerging human capital development needs. Specifically, empirical evidences of the steps taken by academic departments of tertiary institutions to obtain information about current needs of employers of labour, whether they embark on periodic review of academic programmes to cope with demands of the work place and their level of satisfaction with the employment prospects of graduates produced by them were sought. Interview of selected departmental heads in tertiary institutions in Lagos and Kwara State was carried out. With the use of frequency counts and percentages, it was found that majority of the academic departments review their academic programmes following guidelines provided by regulatory bodies like NCCE and NUC. Most of the departments also have forum through which they interact with employers of their products but a fairly large proportion of the academic departments expressed dissatisfaction with the employment prospects of their products. In view of these findings, it was recommended that institutions of higher learning in Nigeria should keep developments at work in view and reform curriculum to cater for needs represented. Also, it is recommended that research based policy initiatives should be instituted to achieve improvements in the contributions to human capital development.enHuman developmentAcademic programmesTertiary institutionsArticle