ISGPP/UNECA/OVP Policy Dialogue on Job Creation in Nigeria by Aanuoluwa Kukoyi

At the end of each academic year, Nigerian higher institutions churn out a large number of graduates most of whom unfortunately; do not have employment opportunities. The same scenario plays out even in the informal sector of the country. Analysts have argued that such high unemployment rate in the country in addition to the poor enabling environment that supports businesses to thrive in Nigeria; is caused by the fact that graduates lack the appropriate skill set to properly contribute to their expected work places.

The situation is further worsened by the weak policy framework in the country aimed at proffering concrete solutions to this challenge. This is in addition to the fact that there is an absence of long-term perspective to initiatives and programmes to address unemployment in the country; duplication of initiatives and programmes aimed at combating unemployment; and inadequate programme evaluation and monitoring systems even when there are initiatives aimed at solving this problem.

It is against this background that the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy in conjunction with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Office of the Vice President are collaborating to host a stakeholder led policy dialogue on Unemployment and Job Creation in Nigeria.

Some of the issues to be discussed at the dialogue include:

• A comprehensive analysis of Nigeria’s previous and existing job creation policies and programmes in terms of their focus, objectives, implementation and impact.
• A thorough review of the lessons that can be drawn from the experiences of other countries, with particular focus on the similarities with Nigeria’s experiences, especially in terms of the level of development and economic structure.
• An in-depth analysis of the potential job creation opportunities of the Nigerian economy now and into the future, based primarily on the existing structure of the economy and its projected evolution over the next 25 years.
• The identification and analysis of a range of barriers to creating jobs that must be tackled.
• The development of an appropriate job creation strategy whose effective implementation should produce a convergence between the growth rates of Nigeria’s labour force and that of net job creation, at an acceptable unemployment rate.

It is expected that this programme will help analyze the challenges to creating jobs in Nigeria, explore creative ways of job creation and proffer competent solutions to the high unemployment rate in the country.