World Bank tackles Nigeria on unemployment, poverty

Gbola Subair, Abuja - 22.05.2008

THE World Bank has called on Nigeria to quickly address unemployment and the high level of poverty in the country. The Bank, in a document on Nigeria Investment Climate Assessment released in Abuja, said one in every five Nigerians is unemployed.

According to the document, “Nigeria is not maximising its human resource potential, while demographic trends in the country are alarming.” Disclossing that each year, one in 10 of the six million new entrants to the workforce found employment, the bank estimated that youth employment was estimated at about 60 per cent.

For years, the World Bank said Nigerian businesses faced a tough environment due to desperate shortage of energy,a poor transportation network and low level of education.

The bank, which stressed the imperative for the Nigerian worker to be more productive to compete in a globalised 21 century, explained that a Nigerian worker in the manufacturing sector, was paid around $200 per month.

The World Bank said “this is lower than competitors while they produce less than $500 per month. “When their output is compared to their cost, Nigeria’s workers are shown to be less productive than their counterparts in more dynamic countries such as Kenya , Brazil and India,” the bank said.