Data Fragmentation Undermining Productivity, Job Creation – Kale

The group chief economist and managing director of Research and Trade Intelligence at the African Export-Import Bank, Yemi Kale, has said that data fragmentation remains a major barrier to Nigeria’s productivity, employment generation, and labour market efficiency.

Kale, a former statistician-general of the National Bureau of Statistics, made the statement on Tuesday while speaking virtually at the National Skills and Industry Alignment Roundtable Q2 Series in Abuja, which focused on the role of data in job creation, coordination, and labour market linkages.

He said Nigeria’s youthful population—about 70 per cent under the age of 30—represents both an opportunity and a challenge, stressing the need for stronger institutions, improved education systems, and greater capacity to absorb young people into the economy.

According to him, Nigeria requires a coordinated data system that can align skills development with labour market needs, improve productivity, and support long-term economic competitiveness.

Kale noted that countries that have achieved sustained economic transformation did so not because of natural resources, but because they deliberately aligned human capital systems with evolving economic demands. He added that in competitive economies, the strength of labour markets depends heavily on the quality of the underlying data systems that guide skills development and workforce planning.

He explained that in Nigeria, employers are struggling to find skilled workers while millions of job seekers are unable to access suitable opportunities, despite continuous output from educational and training institutions. He attributed the gap to fragmented information systems that prevent effective matching of skills to available jobs.

Kale said stakeholders across the ecosystem—including employers, training institutions, policymakers, and investors—are effectively “searching independently rather than collectively,” leading to inefficiencies in the labour market.

Also speaking, special assistant to the vice president on Workforce Development, Rimam Nuhu, said the National Council on Skills is working to develop evidence-based policies to address skills mismatches and shortages.

He said the planned national database would help government identify skills gaps, improve workforce planning, and support productivity growth by providing reliable labour market intelligence.

Strategic Partnership Lead in the Office of the Vice President, Afolabi Imoukhuede, added that the federal government aims to integrate existing fragmented databases into a unified, interoperable labour market intelligence system.

He said the system—comprising a skills observatory, labour market information system, and labour exchange platform—would strengthen data use in policymaking, improve competitiveness, and support job creation.