Youth unemployment is a global ticking time bomb. So, something must be done urgently to defuse it.
This crisis, already entrenched in developing economies, may engulf the world if not checked.
According to the World Bank Group, about 1.2 billion young people in emerging economies will reach the working age in the next 10-15 years, yet current economic projections indicate that only around 400 million jobs are likely to be created during the same period. This is ominous.
The Washington-based institution says this mismatch implies that hundreds of millions of youths will have no access to productive employment.
The President of the WBG, Ajay Banga, says, “This challenge is not only a development issue, but it is (also) an economic challenge and increasingly a national security concern.”
The Bank warns that widening the unemployment gap is an invitation to strained public institutions, irregular migration, social unrest and insecurity, particularly in regions with rapidly growing youth populations.
The WBG identifies risk – real and perceived – as the main barrier to investment in developing markets, rather than lack of opportunity. It therefore urges development institutions to finance infrastructure, support regulatory reforms and help reduce investment uncertainty.
Africa, a significant part of the emerging economies, is estimated to have the youngest population globally, with 60 per cent of its population under age 25.
Nigeria’s youthful population under 30 is put at 60 to 70 per cent. The country’s youth unemployment rate reached an all-time high of 53.40 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the NBS.
This dropped significantly to 6.50 per cent in Q2 2024 after the NBS introduced a new methodology to calculate unemployment in line with the International Labour Organisation’s metrics.
Despite this, underemployment and informal work rates stand at over 92 per cent among Nigerian youths. These are staggering numbers.
The global unemployment profile cuts across many sectors. According to the WBG, many countries, including Nigeria, are not giving young people jobs, including medical doctors.
In this, unemployment is robbing the country of its youth and brightest professionals, to the advantage of the economies of other countries, where they relocate to in search of better opportunities. For instance, thousands of doctors and lecturers flee Nigeria every year to contribute to foreign economies.
Indeed, successive governments in Nigeria have neglected to implement strategies to prioritise production, stimulate economic growth, and make the business environment conducive to production and manufacturing.
Factories have been closing down, and multinationals are exiting the country. Between 1990 and 2023, 120 to 150 textile companies shut down in Nigeria.
More than 15 multinationals exited Nigeria between 2020 and 2025, including Procter & Gamble, Diageo, Microsoft, Bolt, Equinor and GSK. These exits cost the economy at least N94 trillion and 20,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Therefore, the Bola Tinubu administration should implement policies to re-attract multinationals to the economy.
In addition, the country’s power situation is horrendous, resulting in high rates of business failures. Nigeria has been hovering between 3,000MW and 5,000MW since 1999. In a tech-driven world where young people engage in entrepreneurship, the country’s leaders fail to provide electricity.
In contrast, Egypt and South Africa generate 57,000MW each to power their economies.
Power alone will create numerous jobs. Regular electricity supply will encourage the few — graduates and non-graduates — who learn skills and the SMEs to be more productive and employ job seekers.
Nigeria’s 18.3 million out-of-school children speak to the alarming state the unemployment profile will slide into in the next 10 years and beyond.
Multiple taxes are needless hindrances to business startups. It is a double jeopardy for governments that did not give them jobs in the first place to saddle their businesses with multiple taxes.
The Minister of State for Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, before his new post, listed 60 multiple taxes hindering businesses in Nigeria. There is a slew of ‘nuisance taxes’ at the state level.
Therefore, the Tinubu government should ensure the strict implementation of the new tax laws.
All the tiers of government must see youth unemployment as a national emergency and should unveil new strategies to lift the country out of the quagmire.
The governments should provide an enabling environment, including roads and other relevant infrastructure, to make jobs available for youths and to stimulate the economy.
The country’s federalism must be restructured to allow governments to create wealth and jobs for young people.
Nigeria must adopt a paradigm shift by concentrating on its areas of comparative advantage, especially agriculture, which will engender export earnings instead of trying to be a master in everything
The Federal Government should take advantage of the ongoing security intervention by the US to flush the terrorists out of our forests and roads, and make farming and businesses thrive, and the people safe.
The government at all levels must cut wastages and plug loopholes at all levels while adopting private sector principles to the conduct of government business and diverting substantial parts of the excess funds to job creation.
They should privatise the refineries and other public assets outright to unleash a massive financial regime that will make jobs available for the youth.
Youth employment is the first proof of a safe, secure and prosperous future. The governments must deliberately make youth employment a priority now.
