Safeguarding Nigeria's Future Workforce

Sep 6, 2019

To remain economically competitive, Nigeria needs to develop a productive workforce. SAMUEL OCHAI / EUROPEAN UNION

The future of formal work in Nigeria hangs in the balance.

Credentials are no longer effective competency indicators; with rising unemployment, Nigeria increasingly needs to shift its education-to-employment systems to focus, instead, on competencies. As employers around the world scramble to hire the most productive labour at the lowest cost, the economies that will come out ahead are those that can provide the most productive workforce with the highest rate of return on investment.

In order to remain economically competitive, Nigeria needs to develop a productive workforce. For this to happen, the country must address three key issues: growing youth unemployment; a widening skills gap; and an education system in decay. While there are, indeed, issues within Nigeria’s education-to-employment model, there are, increasingly, ways of rethinking current education and employment practices and processes to facilitate closing the skills gap, create a more skilled workforce, address youth unemployment, and create a productive future workforce.

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About the Author

Misan Rewane

is the co-founder and CEO of West African Vocational Education (WAVE).

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Safeguarding Nigeria's Future Workforce