Unemployment looms large in Nigeria, and its effects are worrisomely severe, particularly for the country’s youths. It is undeniable that the gap between the demand for and supply of skilled labour is significant. In Nigeria, there are about 25 million unemployed graduates. A large percentage are unemployable due to their inability to meet labour market demand. This ought to serve as a wake-up call for national planning in the areas of education and employment policy.
The rising unemployability crisis in Nigeria has been attributed to the country’s low quality and standards of the educational system. This has created a shortfall in the adequately skilled and educated workforce among the youth, which is identified as one of the major constraints to the country’s growth and development. Charles Nwodo, executive chairman of XL Africa Group and founder of the Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC), has called for a pedagogical change; the reconfiguration of the curriculum and teaching methods are used in Nigeria’s universities to better equip graduates for the evolving demands of the economy and the global labour market.
KEC aims to empower youths with the necessary skills.
He said that the KEC’s Graduate Advancement Programme (GAP), now in its sixth cohort, is an initiative designed to improve the employability of young graduates in Nigeria by providing them with the knowledge and skills required to make them employable in the workforce of the future at no cost to the participants. Out of the thousands of candidates that applied from all around Nigeria, representing a wide range of academic majors and professional interests, only 102 were chosen to participate in the program.
The program is meant to equip young people with a clear roadmap and enhance their skills and all other professional qualities needed to secure a job, start their businesses, and become employers in the near future. This will help replenish the country’s talented minds, especially in the digital space. While addressing the trainees, Nwodo said the program was created in 2014 as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vehicle of XL Africa Group effort to create a structured and sustainable model to empower young graduates with life-changing and future-focused employability skills, which would help reduce unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria.
Current government needs to enhance the development curriculum.
Nwodo claims that a significant number of Nigerians have graduated from the GAP network training offered by the KEC since the program’s inception. Those in charge of curriculum development and education planning, on the one hand, and the organized private sector and employers of labour on the other, need to work together and coordinate their efforts to meet the pressing need for regular changes to the elements of the country’s educational policies. The government, together with higher education institutions and legislators, needs to ensure that youth are equipped with the skills and knowledge required in the modern workforce.
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), also lamented the high rate of unemployment among Nigerians, claiming that 40% of young people were out of work. He disclosed this at a lecture in Lagos. Nigeria’s future hinges on what it does with its vibrant young population today. It is essential for Nigeria, the region, and the rest of the world to turn this demographic advantage into a top-notch and highly skilled workforce.
Investments in youth should be prioritized for more development.
He further claims that there is a pressing need to prioritize investments in youth. This would involve, among other things, preparing young people for jobs of the future rather than jobs of the past, shifting the focus from so-called youth empowerment to youth investment, and providing young people with a voice in social and political arenas so that they can contribute to the advancement of the country; while ensuring that the government generates wealth based on the labor of young people.
Related Link
Gap Network: Website
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In Nigeria, unemployment is a significant problem, and the ramifications of this problem are worrisomely severe, especially for the country’s younger population.
There is a huge difference between the demand for skilled labor and the supply of skilled labor, and this fact cannot be denied.
The government, in collaboration with higher education institutions and policymakers, must ensure that youth have the skills and knowledge required in today’s workforce.
Actually if this is very true then the youths really have to develop themselves. We need technological and employability skills to be able to be employable. I hope we know that and start working towards it.
The unemployment in Nigeria is one of our major problem which need to be solve. The youth need to develop yourself with employability skill so they cam be employed. This kind knowledge and skill should be teach to the youth
A large percentage are unemployable due to their inability to meet labour market demand. That is not truth, i disagree with that. We have so many many youth with different kind of skills yet their are not employed due unemloyement in Nigeria. Government of they country have no provision for youth after school. Government has never create good standard of living in this country. Government has made life very have hard for the masses. Government has refuse to give constant light in the country. We have a lot of Talented people in this country but government no they assist the youth. Government no they give loan. Stantard of living is very high
Lots of things causes unemployment but the may issue is government policies and programs and if this is not properly manage, unemployment will continue to be rising.
Investments in youths should be prioritized. youth empowerment is good also…. Government should ensure there’s a back up plans for investments for the youth after the acquisition of skills and knowledge. It is essential for Nigeria.. because it will bring more development to the country.
There is a significant risk of unemployment in Nigeria, and the consequences of this risk are worrisomely severe, especially for the country’s younger population.
There is no denying the fact that there is a considerable disparity between the demand for skilled labor and the availability of that labor.
The low quality and standards of the educational system in Nigeria are being blamed for the country’s rising unemployment rate, which has been connected to the crisis.
Government is ought to provide provisions for the people and regulate the educational system curriculum for more development.
Because of this, there is a shortage of appropriately competent and educated workforce members among the youth, which is recognized as one of the primary barriers to the expansion and development of the nation.
As such, it should act as a wake-up call for national policymakers to rethink their approaches to education and workforce development.
Sadly that is the reality, many graduate are not equip enough to enter the favour market that is why of the many of them still in labour market of struggle and has not found any job.
Many of our graduates are not truly given necessary trainings to effectively compete in the labour market.
a methodology that is both long-term and sustainable to equip young graduates with employability skills that are both life-changing and future-focused; this would assist eliminate both unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria.
guaranteeing that the government generates income based on the labor of young people while simultaneously giving young people a voice in social and political arenas so that they may contribute to the growth of the country.
It is absolutely necessary for Nigeria, the region, and the rest of the globe to convert this demographic advantage into a labor force that is of the highest quality and possesses an exceptional level of expertise.
The rising unemployability crisis in Nigeria has been attributed to the country’s low quality and standards of the educational system. The program is meant to equip young people with a clear roadmap and enhance their skills and all other professional qualities needed to secure a job
The government, together with higher education institutions and legislators, needs to ensure that youth are equipped with the skills and knowledge required in the modern workforce.