This paper examined the impact of manpower planning on unemployment in Nigeria from 1995-2019. To achieve the above objective, secondary data on unemployment rate, total government spending on education and gross school enrolment were sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, National Bureau of Statistics and World Bank national accounts. The econometric techniques of cointegration and error correction mechanism were used to analyze the data collected for the study. The result revealed that 62% total variation in unemployment rate was explained by total government spending on education and gross school enrolment. It also revealed that total government expenditure on education and gross school enrolment have positive and insignificant relationship with unemployment rate. Furthermore, it was observed that the failure of manpower planning in Nigeria to meaningfully reduce unemployment is because the educational sector is facing funding deficit, leading to deterioration in quality, uncontrolled growth in educational institutions, etc. Based on these findings, the study suggested that government should ensure adequate funding of education in Nigeria. Moreover, government should provide appropriate policies that will increase and sustain manpower development. Such policies should include; compulsory primary and vocational education for all citizens - commitment to mass education at all levels without compromising on quality, strengthen and modernize the national skill development/training system (Industrial Training Fund -ITF, and National Directorate of Employment - NDE) to increase the quantity of employable youths in the country.