By Osita Ngwu Nigeria stands at a consequential point in its economic journey. The country has begun the difficult process of confronting structural weaknesses that have constrained growth, investment and productivity for years. The challenge before us now is to ensure that economic reform translates into what every Nigerian can understand and feel: jobs, incomes, enterprise and a more secure economic future. This is why the conversation about unemployment must move beyond statistics. Nigeria needs a national strategy that connects economic reform with employment generation. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration deserves recognition for undertaking difficult structural reforms aimed at rebuilding the foundations of the Nigerian economy. The removal of longstanding distortions in the petroleum sector, reforms in the foreign-exchange market, efforts to strengthen fiscal sustainability and measures designed to improve the investment environment are significant components of this broader economic reset. These reforms have inevitably come with difficult adjustments. Millions of Nigerians have experienced higher living costs and significant economic pressures. These concerns cannot and should not be dismissed. But it is equally important to recognise that an economy burdened by structural distortions cannot achieve sustainable prosperity without reform. The task, therefore, is not to choose between reform and prosperity. The task is to make reform deliver prosperity. That is where employment becomes the next great national imperative. Nigeria’s employment challenge is more complicated than the official unemployment rate alone suggests. Millions of Nigerians are economically active but remain trapped in informal, precarious or low-income activities. They survive through petty trading, casual labour, small-scale agriculture, commercial transportation, domestic services and other forms of informal work. These activities are important to the Nigerian economy. They demonstrate the resilience and entrepreneurial spirit of our people. But survival is not the same as prosperity. A young Nigerian who works twelve hours a day and barely earns enough to support a family may technically be employed, but remains economically vulnerable. The relevant question is therefore not simply: How many Nigerians are unemployed? It is: How many Nigerians have access to productive, sustainable and adequately remunerated employment? That is the deeper employment challenge facing the country. Economic reform does not directly employ people. Investment does. Businesses do. Factories do. Construction projects do. Farms and agro-processing companies do. Technology companies do. Healthcare institutions do. Logistics companies do. The purpose of economic reform must therefore be to create an environment in which these activities can expand. The transmission mechanism should be clear: Reform to Investment to Production to Enterprise to Employment to Prosperity. This should become one of the central organising principles of Nigeria’s economic policy. If reforms improve economic stability and investor confidence, the next objective must be to convert that improvement into capital formation, business expansion and productive capacity. And when productive capacity expands, employment should follow. The difficult reforms undertaken by President Tinubu should be viewed within this broader context. Nigeria cannot build a sustainable employment economy on an unstable macroeconomic foundation. The administration’s reforms are therefore important because they seek to address some of the structural distortions that have discouraged investment, weakened productivity and constrained economic growth. The removal of the fuel-subsidy regime, foreign-exchange reforms, efforts to strengthen public finances and initiatives aimed at improving the business and investment environment represent attempts to create a more sustainable economic framework. These reforms should not be viewed as the destination. They are the foundation. And a foundation is not the building. The real challenge is what Nigeria builds upon it. The next phase must therefore focus on investment, industrial expansion, enterprise development and employment generation. This is where government, the private sector, financial institutions, state governments, legislators and development partners must work together. Against this background, Nigeria needs a National Jobs Summit. But it must be a summit with a purpose. Nigeria has held many conferences where speeches were delivered and communiqués produced. The country does not need another gathering that ends with declarations that disappear from public consciousness. The proposed summit should produce a practical National Jobs Action Plan. It
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