Human Capital and Labour Report Nigeria
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a federal constitutional republic comprising of 36 states. The country is located in West Africa and bordered by Niger, Benin, Chad and Cameroon. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. The country comprises 923,768 km² (356,667 miles²) and has a total population of 169 million, making it the most populous country in Africa. Abuja is the capital and the largest city is Lagos with about 17 million people. Nigeria’s economy is the largest in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. Coupled with its large young, population the country is attracting an increasing a large amount of investors in the oil, gas, ICT and agriculture industries, resulting in an even faster growing economy with consistently high growth since 2006. Despite its tremendous growth and size of the economy, Nigeria faces widespread poverty, deprivation and massive income inequality. Capitalizing on the country’s population dividend by improving skills and diversifying its economy will be essential to driving continued economic growth and re-investing the benefits back into the country to improve vital infrastructure and living standards. Furthermore, enhancing skills development and education, particularly technical and vocational training will help to improve the country’s socio-economic conditions. .
This country analysis focuses on broad human capital indicators including:
- Country profile, including a brief overview of the country; corruption and governance indicators; and the business culture.
- Economic indicators, including an overview of the economy; largest companies; foreign aid and foreign investment.
- Socio-demographic indicators, including population parameters, standard of living and poverty measures.
- Healthcare and wellness: The focus here is on the impact of Tuberculosis (TB), HIV/AIDS and malaria on the workforce and workplace; the availability of specialist healthcare and also primary and secondary healthcare.
- Education trends, including the education level of the population and workforce; education standards and output; as well as the training and skills development framework.
- Labour force, including the economically active population; job creation; employment sectors; skills shortages; employment of expatriates; brain drain; industrial relations; professional human resource management and more.
Throughout the research, implications, challenges and recommendations are offered to employers, policy makers, donors, investors and the human resource management fraternity. This is all done within the context of Nigerian socio-economic realities.
Where appropriate, comparisons were made with Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and sub–Saharan Africa. Kenya was selected because of being the largest economy in East Africa and also being viewed as an entry point for investors to enter into Africa.The data of these countries are used to provide context and perspective.
The country analysis refers only briefly to the Nigerian economy, political situation or general risk factors. There are dozens of platforms, reports, research and publications available in that regard for those who wish to apprise themselves of information relating to those areas.
The research is unique by its predominant focus on the Nigerian labour force.