The World Bank has thrown its weight behind Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, program, calling it a “goldmine” that can supercharge the country’s drive towards industrialization.
Ndiame Diop, World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, emphasized the importance of skills development for Nigeria’s growth, highlighting the alarming number of out-of-school children – between 15 and 17 million – and the need for better nutrition for kids under five, with 11 million currently experiencing stunted growth.
To tackle youth unemployment, Diop stressed the need for quality education, starting from the foundation, and matching skills with the needs of firms.
He praised the NYSC program, saying it has the potential to provide the right skills to 300,000 to 400,000 graduates annually, and noted that the World Bank is exploring ways to support this initiative.
The World Bank is also working on a project to empower girls in technology, focusing on ICT, digital skills, and STEM fields, where enrollment rates are currently low.
Diop expressed optimism about Nigeria’s economic reforms, citing the country’s unique scale and potential for growth, vibrant private sector, and entrepreneurial spirit.
However, he acknowledged that these reforms come with high social costs, including inflation, and emphasized the need to support vulnerable Nigerians and allocate savings from reforms towards education, health, infrastructure, and social protection.
Diop said:
“Creating jobs to tackle youth unemployment is a critical area where the government has to make efforts to accelerate the pace of job creation. You have to start investing in the supply of skills and you need to start with the foundation; that is, even before the kids go to school.
“At the basic education level, you really need to improve the quality. In Nigeria, the first order of business is to just get them to school because the out-of-school children in Nigeria are very large – between 15 and 17 million. Get them to school so that the learning outcomes will prepare them for the labour market.
“The rate of stunting in Nigeria is just too high for the country. Over 11 million children under five are stunted; you have to eliminate that. You have to make sure that there is no longer stunting so that when they get to school, they are well-prepared to learn. You need to improve the quality of education to prepare them for the labour market.
“You have to also look at issues related to how you can match skills with the needs of firms. There’s one thing which I learned recently which is a real goldmine for Nigeria; the NYSC. It’s amazing to me. If you leverage that, then help that institution to provide the right skills to these 300,000 or 400,000 graduates per year, this will be super helpful. In fact, the World Bank is looking into that.
“These areas that I mentioned are areas where we have projects and operations and we are also helping to reform. It’s not just about financing these projects but about helping to institutionalise things such that there is sustainability. At the end of the project, Nigeria will be able to continue to do those investments at the state and federal level.
“We have one project that is really focused on not only keeping girls in school but also training them in ICT, and digital skills and helping them to also access STEM fields because the enrolment of girls in STEM fields is quite low compared to men. It’s about 13% for engineering programmes, for polytechnics it’s 20%, that’s very low. We need to address these stereotypes that are pushing young girls to education and art. All of that is good but we also need women in those areas because that is what will drive technology and transformation in the future.”
“Steering the economy in the right direction. Nigeria cannot grow fast without doing the hard work; we will have to fix power, fix trade which is important because of all these trade bottlenecks that firms are facing in Nigeria. Fixing security is also important so that the mobility of goods within Nigeria will be much easier.
“This country has the scale and potential for economies of scale that is unique in Africa. The country has a private sector that is the most vibrant, and dynamic in Africa. Nigerians are extremely entrepreneurial, so we just need good public policy to support them and we need a very good partnership between the public sector and the private sector- a sort of productive alliance for growth and jobs.”
“These reforms come with quite high social cost; inflation is high and many Nigerians are feeling the pinch. It’s urgent to support the people that are really struggling with high inflation. Another thing that is critical is to ensure that the savings from these reforms are spent on things like education, health, infrastructure, and social protection so that Nigerians can feel the benefits of these reforms.”
