World Bank: High Unemployment Forcing Educated Nigerian Youths to Migrate

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

A World Bank economist, Mr. Samik Adhikari has stated that the country’s high unemployment rate was frustrating and forcing educated Nigerians youths to migrate to others countries of the world.

In his presentation during a stakeholders’ engagement on, “Nigeria: Perspectives on Labour Migration and Diaspora,” in Abuja, yesterday, he projected a 133 million growth in Nigeria’s working age population between 2020 and 2050.

This, he noted, would add to employment pressure, unless urgent steps were taken to address the problem.

“If we look at the data between 2014 and 2020, we will see that unemployment has increased, as well as an inactive population in the economy. So, the stock of fully employed Nigerians has declined, and the stock of Nigerians not in the labour has increased.

“The unemployment rate leads to frustrations for educated youths, who come into the labour market with human capital but have fewer opportunities using them. This further creates migration pressure. Nigeria’s unemployment crisis is creating migratory pressure. Unemployment is the number one concern of Nigerians,” he said.

According to him, owing to the desperation, many young Nigerians failed to utilise the most of migration opportunities

“Part of the reason why Nigeria does not benefit more from international migration is because it is costly and there are few channels for regular migration… International migration is costly and entails high upfront capital that few households in the poorer regions of the country can afford.“Despite multiple stakeholders working across the migration life-cycle, Nigeria is not able to reap benefits from international labour migration,” Adhikari said.

He blamed lack of strategy for accessing labour markets in other countries, adding that “no mechanism for marketing skilled labour to potential destinations where matching skills shortages exist, and significant gaps compared to a mature labour migration system of peer countries such as Philippines.”

Adhikari, therefore suggested that steps needed to put a new paradigm for migration partnership include signing government to government agreement, consulting relevant stakeholders, signing on interested employers, developing curricula and training materials, facilitating mobility, designing contributions to broader systems.

Speaking at the event, the World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri, suggested managed-migration as a key factor to solving Nigeria’s high level of unemployment.

He said: “The World Bank is here to support Nigeria in providing economic opportunities to young people who have aspirations.

“What we are saying is that managed-migration is part of the solution. We would like to see irregular migration go down to reduce suffering.

Managed migration offers an opportunity to build between diaspora and the Nigerian economy and everyone to benefit.”

In his contributions, Governor Godwin Obaseiki of Edo state said: “If you look at all the stakeholders involved, there is nothing at the subnational level. In putting together a strategy, we must look at the opportunities they need to pursue. How do they then proceed?

“In Edo State there are agencies of government who are actively collaborating with the private sector. Government needs to have a strategy to register these people. We as a state government can now say we have this institute to train you. Of the 1000 I would train, only 300 would travel. The 700 people would stay and expand the economy. We need to open up our monetary policies that do not support growth.

“There are two sets of people, those who want to better their lives here and make something of themselves and those who just want to travel. What are the root causes of the migration crisis we have?

“The quality of education they received, particularly at the foundation level. At Edo State, we are investing in actively training young men and women in skills they require to migrate. Do we have the strategy to take advantage of the global opportunity the managed migration would create?

“A lot of people know that these opportunities exist, they have seen their families go abroad for these opportunities and so they are interested in going themselves. It is okay to migrate but go properly.”