Unemployment problem in Nigeria

• Nigeria is one of the largest African economies which is facing severe unemployment issues. As per the latest survey, 9.7 million is the number of people unemployed in Nigeria. Nearly one-third of this unemployed population is out of work for the last three years.

• But it has been difficult to make the difference between good-paying jobs in Nigeria and vice versa. There are a large number of people working in the informal sector too.

• Economists say that Nigeria needs to create 3 million jobs per year to eradicate the problem of unemployment. They have another reason to fear, as the Nigeria government may end up creating menial jobs which involve labor work or farming tasks. To bring the people out of the current state of poverty, Nigeria needs to create investments and create good-paying jobs for its people.

      Outsourcing opportunities in the African continent

• Although Africa has a major influence on European culture and languages like French, Portuguese, English, etc, it has failed to create its share of outsourcing jobs in africa which went to India and China.

• Companies around the world are and will be looking to outsource jobs to countries with a talent pool. There are a lot of IT positions in the US that still lie vacant as the US has strengthened its laws on immigration. As a consequence, these jobs will be outsourced and this opens up a new opportunity for African companies to create jobs in africa

•  Nigeria provides attractive investment opportunities, as it has good infrastructure, an internet connection, a vast talent pool, and a competitive workforce. Several US firms have tried and tested the talent in African countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda.

• Nigeria in the last few years has been aggressively promoting and testing the talent pool. Even Microsoft has promised to invest a significant amount of i.e, around $100 million. Nigerians are actively participating in platforms like Github which is a platform for software projects.

• Companies in the US and Europe feel confident to outsource only if they see talented individuals in a country. Therefore, Nigeria needs to give more attention to increasing the quality of tech talent in the country. It needs to equip its college students with the latest laptops and wifi and a good internet connection.

• The companies around the world are ready to invest considerably and in targeted areas is encouraged by the local government initiatives. Several Nigerians are working around the world which ranges in millions. Nigerian authorities must make investments to develop this raw talent into employable ones, which would encourage foreign companies to hire them.