Nigeria faces serious impediments to her growth and restoring higher levels of social mobility will be among the most important political, social, and economic challenges that our country will face as we move into 2023.
Already, we’ve witnessed how frustration over how our perceived stagnation have the potential to destabilize our national institutions and divide our society. The longer we wait to address the issue that ensures our future generations are catered for, the more tumultuous our politics will become.
The cost of countries’ inaction on human development is rising fast. There is growing evidence that unless countries protect and invest in their people, they cannot achieve sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, will not have a workforce equipped for the jobs of the future, and will not compete effectively in the global economy.
At an average annual growth rate of 2.5%, Nigeria’s population is projected to reach 400 million by 2050, with young Nigerians accounting for the majority. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s infrastructure, education, social services and health systems are deplorable and incommensurate with current population needs.
According to the World Bank, over 40% of Nigerians currently live in extreme poverty. The World Bank recently revised its estimation of the number of Nigerians expected to fall into poverty by the end of 2022 to 7 million, following the increase in inflation to 17.71% year-on-year in May 2022.
Unemployment is also a significant challenge. Estimated at 33%, the high level of youth unemployment is a major cause for concern. With such a high rate of inflation and poverty increasing, there is a probability of Nigeria’s burgeoning, largely young population becoming more of a liability than an asset.
The Institute for Economics & Peace notes that women and girls in Nigeria continue to face significant inequalities. Between 2014 and 2019, fewer females than males were enrolled in primary and secondary education (0.94 and 0.90 female to 1 male respectively).
Also, more women (1.58 female to 1 male) and female youth (1.20 female to 1 male) were unemployed in the same period compared to their male counterparts. Women held only 4.1% of seats in Nigerian parliament in 2019, and between 2009 and 2019, Nigerian women held less than 30% share of employment in senior and middle management.
Making greater and more effective investments in children and youth will be the best way for Nigeria to improve social mobility throughout the nation. Research has demonstrated the positive long-term effects of providing a specific set of coordinated interventions for children and the youth as they advance towards contributing to Nigeria’s economy.
Despite the conclusive evidence, our nation has been unable to provide those with the potential to contribute to the right kinds of services that can transform our nation from a consumer nation to a productive one.
Over the past decade, it has become apparent that we cannot rely upon the federal government or the states. The federal government and the sub nationals are faced with immense challenges that lead to paralysis on or hostility toward many of the policies and interventions necessary for improving outcomes for children and youth.
How can we stem the tide? How do we invest in Nigeria’s human capital development in a way that secures our future? Who will lead the effort to expand these proven strategies? The time to act is now.
The 28th Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES28) with the theme “2023 and Beyond: Priorities for Shared Prosperity” scheduled to hold on the 14th and 15th of November, 2022 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja seeks to galvanize stakeholders to deliberate on an actionable framework for transformative political leadership and effective governance, to facilitate economic growth and nation building.
NES #28 presents the best opportunity for stakeholders to agree on a consensus on the national and sub-national imperatives for economic security, social justice, conscientious governance, political stability and environmental sustainability.
The summit hopes to discern the imperatives for harnessing Nigeria’s latent human capital wealth as a means of securing our collective future by identifying critical factors for effective policy implementation for sustained economic growth.
#NES28 will also highlight stakeholder actions needed to eliminate barriers to inclusive economic growth and development; Identify pragmatic initiatives to elicit economic leadership at the subnational levels, by adopting a “Bottom Up” approach to economic growth and development and articulate the economic agenda for the incoming leaders in 2023 and beyond.
The public-private dialogue platform Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#1) was held from February 18-20, 1993. Participants at NES#1 concluded that it is imperative for the private sector to continuously dialogue and cooperate with the public sector.
Over the past 27 years, national and global policymakers and business leaders have acknowledged that the annual NES is the premier platform for public-private dialogue in Nigeria.
