NESG Warns Nigeria Must Create 27m Jobs To Avert Labour Crisis

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has launched its landmark report titled ‘From Hustle to Decent Work: Unlocking Jobs and Productivity for Economic Transformation in Nigeria’ at the 31st Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.

The report called for a bold, coordinated national agenda to tackle unemployment, raise productivity and unlock sustainable economic transformation.

The report revealed that Nigeria’s working-age population will rise to 168 million by 2030, requiring the creation of 27 million new formal jobs, an average of 4.5 million jobs per year to keep unemployment at current level.

Without urgent action, the NESG warned, unemployment and underemployment could double by the end of the decade, leaving millions trapped in low-skilled, low-income work.

“The challenge before us is to move decisively into the consolidation phase, embedding reforms in ways that drive jobs, growth, and inclusion, while simultaneously laying the foundations for long-term transformation that secures prosperity for every Nigerian,” Mr Niyi Yusuf, NESG chairman said.

Presenting the report at the summit, senior economist at the NESG, Dr Wilson Erumebor, stated: “This is not just a labour market issue; it is a huge development challenge. Without decisive reforms to create decent and productive jobs, an entire generation risks being trapped in vulnerable work that neither lifts families out of poverty nor moves the nation forward.”

The Jobs and Productivity Report identifies five key challenges: limited depth of Nigeria’s private sector; skills mismatch and weak human capital development; poor learning outcomes in education; growth concentrated in low-employment sectors; and structural bottlenecks such as inadequate infrastructure and high energy costs.

To address these, the report introduced the Nigeria Works Framework, which is a blueprint for a Jobs and Productivity Agenda that emphasises skills for productivity, sectoral engines of grow, enterprise-led growth, especially small business support, upgrading the informal economy, data and institutional reforms and roductivity for prosperity.

The NESG concluded that productivity must become the central metric of national competitiveness. It must be tracked, measured and elevated as the foundation of shared prosperity.

The report showed that over 90% of Nigeria’s workers were in informal employment while over 80% of workers were engaged in low-productivity sectors/activities, with a call for the country to prioritise four sectors – manufacturing, construction, ICT, professional services – which hold the greatest potential for large-scale job creation and productivity growth.

In the report, the NESG said six strategic pillars would make up the Nigeria Works framework. The sectors are skills for productivity, sectoral engines of growth, enterprise development, upgrading the informal economy, institutions and data, and productivity for prosperity.