The World Bank has raised concerns over Nigeria’s growing youth unemployment challenge, revealing that about 4 million young Nigerians enter the labour market every year while only between 300,000 and 400,000 jobs are created annually, leaving millions without productive employment opportunities.
The warning was issued at the African Foundational Week (AFW) Youth Week, held across six Central African countries, including Nigeria, under the theme, “Youth Works, Africa Thrives.” The event brought together government officials, development partners, youth advocates and entrepreneurs to discuss pathways to employment, skills development and economic inclusion for Africa’s growing youth population.
Stakeholders at the event warned that unless urgent action is taken to create jobs, bridge skills gaps and expand access to opportunities, millions of young people risk being left behind, with potential consequences for economic growth and social stability.
Speaking at the event, the World Bank operations manager for Nigeria, Taimur Samad, said the country faces a widening gap between the number of young people seeking employment and the jobs available to absorb them.
“Whether it is 300,000, 400,000 or 500,000 jobs, there is still a massive gap between the number of youth entering the labour force every year and the number that have productive paid employment. That is scary for any society,” Samad said.
He warned that the growing employment deficit could threaten both social and economic stability if left unaddressed.
“The pathway to prosperity for countries, and most importantly their youth, is employment in the private sector,” he added.
Samad disclosed that the World Bank’s new Country Partnership Framework for Nigeria places job creation at the centre of its development strategy.
According to him, the framework focuses on macroeconomic reforms, infrastructure, energy, digital connectivity, human capital development and skills acquisition.
He added that the World Bank is working with government authorities to develop a comprehensive skills development programme aimed at helping young people transition successfully into the labour market.
Also speaking, World Bank International Development Association (IDA) Youth Champion, Hassana Maina, described youth unemployment as one of the most pressing development challenges confronting Nigeria and the African continent.
According to her, global projections show that about 1.2 billion young people will enter the global workforce over the next decade, while significantly fewer jobs are expected to be created.
“The conversation was needed yesterday, not even today,” Maina said.
“How do we ensure that we are able to look at this development issue of our time and find solutions to it? We are already feeling the effects of unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria.”
She explained that the forum was convened to bring together policymakers, development partners, youth leaders and entrepreneurs to identify practical solutions to barriers confronting young people.
Maina noted that while access to finance remains a challenge, many young Nigerians are also excluded because they lack access to information, skills and networks.
“Sometimes the problem is not just access to finance. Sometimes it is access to information. Some people do not even know these opportunities exist,” she said.
“We must democratise information so that people are able to participate and grow together.”
“My primary job is to bring focus to the problems young people are going through, provide solutions and spotlight the work being done through the International Development Association,” she said.
Maina stressed that youth representation remains essential because many challenges affecting young people often go unheard due to limited mentorship, sponsorship and access to decision-making spaces.
On his part, the Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, said unemployment among young Nigerians goes beyond job scarcity and is closely linked to skills mismatch, inadequate access to finance and changing economic realities.
“The future of our economy depends on young people,” the minister said.
Olawande noted that about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 35, making youth development central to national growth and economic transformation.
“The government cannot create jobs alone. We need partnerships with the private sector, development institutions and young people themselves to create opportunities,” he said.
“The certificate is not enough. What matters today is access to skills and access to opportunities,” he said.
He identified technology, agriculture, manufacturing, sports, entrepreneurship and the creative economy as key sectors capable of generating employment for young people.
According to him, access to finance remains one of the biggest barriers preventing young entrepreneurs from transforming innovative ideas into successful businesses.
Providing a private-sector perspective, music entrepreneur and Chocolate City co-founder, MI Abaga, said Nigeria’s creative industry possesses enormous potential to create jobs and compete globally if entrepreneurs receive adequate support and funding.
He described the global creative economy as a multi-trillion-dollar industry and urged young Africans to take advantage of opportunities in music, animation, film production, fashion, writing, advertising and digital content creation.
“Any sector in the creative economy presents an opportunity for young people to become global entrepreneurs,” he said.
Abaga, however, noted that many promising Nigerian businesses struggle to attract funding because investors often assess them using standards developed in more advanced economies.
“The reality is that on the entrepreneur side, we are building the ecosystem. People are building things that are viable in a very difficult environment, and the resources and infrastructure need to do the work to reach where we are,” he said.
Drawing from his experience building Chocolate City, Abaga said resilience remains one of the most valuable attributes for entrepreneurs.
He explained that many successful businesses emerge after years of setbacks and failed attempts, stressing that innovation ecosystems become stronger when entrepreneurs are encouraged to experiment and learn from failure.
“Silicon Valley isn’t successful because of its successful companies. It’s successful because of thousands of businesses that have failed, which raised the level of learning across the ecosystem,” he said.
Participants at the AFW Youth Week called for stronger collaboration among governments, development institutions and the private sector to unlock opportunities for Africa’s rapidly growing youth population.
They maintained that without urgent interventions to create jobs, strengthen skills development, improve access to finance and expand economic opportunities, youth unemployment could become one of the greatest threats to Nigeria’s future prosperity and stability.