The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in its Jobs and Productivity Report, published on its website on Monday, said that Nigeria must create at least 27 million new formal jobs within the next five years or risk a sharp rise in unemployment and underemployment by 30 percent.
The report describes the next half-decade as a “critical” window for stabilising the labour market and delivering inclusive growth as the country’s working-age population is projected to hit 168 million by 2030.
“With the working-age population projected to reach 168 million by 2030, the country faces a defining challenge to create 27 million new formal jobs or risk unemployment and underemployment rates doubling to 30 percent, ” said the report.
“Jobs and productivity are central to Nigeria’s economic development,” the report states, adding that failure to generate tens of millions of formal roles will leave the economy unable to absorb its rapidly expanding youth cohort.
“Achieving this will be crucial to absorbing new entrants into the labour market and gradually transitioning workers currently engaged in low-productivity, informal jobs.”