***Launches landmark report
By Tony Obiechina Abuja
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.
The report calls for a bold, coordinated national agenda to tackle unemployment, raise productivity and unlock sustainable economic transformation.
The report reveals 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 levels.
Without urgent action, the NESG warns, 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, Chairman, NESG.
Presenting the report at the Summit, Dr Wilson Erumebor, Senior Economist at the NESG, said: “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 introduces the Nigeria Works Framework, which is a blueprint for a Jobs and Productivity Agenda that emphasises, skills for productivity, sectoral engines of growth
Enterprise-led growth, especially small business support, upgrading the informal economy and Data and institutional reforms.
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.
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Key Facts from the Report included over 90% of Nigeria’s workers are in informal employment, over 80% of workers are engaged in low-productivity sectors/activities, Nigeria’s population will be 275 million by 2030 and 27 million new jobs are needed between 2025 and 2030 to stabilise unemployment.
Four priority sectors – manufacturing, construction, ICT, professional services – hold the greatest potential for large-scale job creation and productivity growth; 6 strategic pillars make up the Nigeria Works Framework: Skills for Productivity, Sectoral Engines of Growth, Enterprise Development, Upgrading the Informal Economy, Institutions and Data, and Productivity for Prosperity.
