Business
AfDB Tasks Nigeria, Others On Job Creation
The African Development Bank (AfDB), has urged Nigeria and other African countries to make conscious efforts at job creation to absorb the increasingly growing labour market on the continent.
Senior Director, Nigeria Country Department, AfDB, Mr Ebrima Faal said this last Monday in Abuja at the launch of the bank’s report on “Creating Decent Jobs: Strategies, Policies, and Instruments’’.
Faal said that the current job crisis confronting the country and the continent as a whole had the potential to exacerbate its current economic, political and social problems.
According to him, Africa’s megatrends are compelling in many ways; but particularly in terms of Nigeria’s rapidly growing population, projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050.
“While this can be a major asset constituting the source of workforce for economic and social development by creating decent jobs and empowering economic activities, it also has the potential to exacerbate the current economic, political and social problems,” he said.
The AfDB official emphasised that the unemployment crisis could render the population vulnerable to illegal activities and fuel migration within and from Africa.
Faal said: “the growth in the African labour force is the fastest globally, but successive years of robust macro-economic policies have not created the jobs required to absorb the increasingly growing labour market entrants or led to sufficient poverty reduction.
“The observed structural changes do not seem to be growth enhancing and lack an employment generation capability.”
He said that quality jobs were low as more people were drawn into the informal, predominantly family operated businesses.
“We see that about 82 per cent of African workers are in working poverty, compared to the world average of 39 per cent.
“What is worse, the youths who constitute majority of the population in all countries are carrying most of the burden of the labour market crisis,’’ Faal said.
According to him, the situation for Nigeria is much more frightening.
“The world population review estimates that Nigeria’s population is expected to double from about 200 million today to 401.3 million people by 2050.
“Youth population in Nigeria has tripled over the past 40 years and if not checked, it would exceed 130 million by 2063.
“And, this will need decent jobs to forestall a catastrophe beyond the magnitude we are currently experiencing,’’ he said.
Faal further quoted the National Bureau of Statistics, as saying that Nigeria has some of the highest unemployment rate of 23.1 and underemployment rate of 20.1 per cent in Africa.
“The figures are even more worrying for women with an unemployment rate of 26.6 per cent and 29. 7 for youths,” he said.
Faal therefore advocated bold political will and concerted sustainable policy efforts to facilitate Federal Government’s declaration that it would create 100 million jobs in Nigeria within 10 years.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has criticised Nigeria’s import ban on 25 categories of goods, claiming that the restrictions limit market access for American exporters.
This is the effect of President Donald Trump’s tariffs introduction on goods entering the United States, with Nigeria facing a 14 per cent duty.
The USTR highlighted the impact of Nigeria’s import ban on various sectors, particularly agriculture, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and consumer goods.
The restrictions affect items such as beef, pork, poultry, fruit juices, medicaments, and alcoholic beverages, which the United States sees as significant barriers to trade.
The agency argues that these limitations reduce export opportunities for United States businesses and lead to lost revenue.
“Nigeria’s import ban on 25 different product categories impacts United States exporters, particularly in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and consumer goods.
“Restrictions on items like beef, pork, poultry, fruit juices, medicaments, and spirits limit United States market access and reduce export opportunities.
“These policies create significant trade barriers that lead to lost revenue for United States businesses looking to expand in the Nigerian market”, the agency said .
In 2016, Nigeria implemented the ban on these 25 items as part of efforts to control imports and stimulate local production.
Some of the banned items include poultry, pork, refined vegetable oil, sugar, cocoa products, spaghetti, beer, and certain medicines.
On March 26, 2025, the Federal Government also announced plans to halt solar panel imports to encourage local manufacturing as part of its push for clean energy.
A leading agribusiness strategist and digital agriculture expert, Ayo Oluwa Okediji, has sought cooperative-driven investments in sustaining growth of poultry industry in Nigeria.
He said the poultry industry was at a defining moment and requires urgent structural reforms to secure its future and ensure long-term sustainability.
Speaking on the theme, “Strengthening Poultry Farming Through Cooperative Synergy and Strategic Investments”, at the recently concluded Oyo Mega Poultry Workshop 2025 in Ibadan, Okediji called on poultry farmers, cooperative leaders, financial institutions and policy makers to rethink the existing structure of the poultry sector.
He stressed the need to transition from fragmented, individually-driven operations to well-structured, cooperative-led enterprises capable of attracting sustainable financing and securing long-term viability.
He said, “Our poultry sector cannot thrive on individual effort alone. We need to organise ourselves into cooperative clusters, build strong governance systems and position ourselves to attract the level of investment needed to sustain this industry beyond this generation.”
Drawing on lessons from successful global cooperative models such as Rabobank in the Netherlands and Landus Cooperative in the United States, Okediji introduced the FarmClusters Poultry Model, a locally adapted solution developed by Agribusiness Dynamics Technology Limited (AgDyna), a subsidiary of AgroInfoTech Africa.
According to him, the model is currently being piloted in Oyo State in partnership with PANOY Agribusiness Limited and local poultry cooperatives.
The Rivers State Representative of the Nigeria Chambers of Commerce, Mines, Industries and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. Erasmus Chukwundah, has urged palm oil farmers to consider hybrid seedlings for planting, if they must break even in palm oil business.
Chukwundah said this recently at the Free Oil Palm Business Climate Smart Best Management Practice/Assistance Training organized by Partnership Initiative In Niger Delta (PIND) for Palm Oil Farmers in Elele, Ikwerre Local Government Area.
The Rivers representative said until palm oil farmers begin to consider such hybrid oil palm seedlings, they may not meet up with the daily increasing demand of palm oil in the market.
According to him, the seedlings produce up to 30 bunches at once that ripen same time.
He said PIND decided to partner with Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN) to ensure that the message was received by the targeted audience.
According to him, palm oil remained a popular choice of industry operators as it could be converted to many other products such as vegetable cooking oil.
He also noted that products such as motor tyers, marine ropes and others are now gotten from the palm tree.
Chukwundah, who is the immediate past Director-General of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Mines, Industries, and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), further warned against use of unrecommended fertilisers in growing oil palms.
He noted that such practices could limit its export value or chances as the foreign marketers have a way of detecting such .
He reiterated the need for organic fertilizers, including poultry droppings, to enable them have a natural palm oil.
“People must reduce physical contact with palm oil production. That is why we are campaigning for hydrolic oil mills. The foreign markets are no longer interested in crude method of palm oil production”, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the farmers, Sonny Didia, who appreciated Chukwundah’s commitment towards the concern of farmers, appealed for an urgent need for loan opportunity with low interest rate in order to enable them beat the target.
King Onunwor