There is need to realign the nation’s educational curriculum with needs of the economy
The ‘State of the Nigerian Youth Report 2025,’ recently released by Plan International Nigeria in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria, found that youth unemployment now stands at 53 per cent. That translates to about 80 million young Nigerians without jobs. “This represents shattered dreams and wasted talent. Unless urgent action is taken, Nigeria risks losing its greatest asset,” the report of these two reputable international non-governmental organisations working with vulnerable and excluded people and communities warned. That half of the nation’s labour force is idle is bad enough. But worse and extremely dangerous is the fact that more than the majority of that army of idle citizens is peopled by those between the ages of 15 and 35. Even if some people may dispute the figures from Plan/ActionAid Nigeria, available reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also confirm a consistent pattern of worsening unemployment in the country.
The danger of such a high level of idleness among millions of young persons is already manifesting in the high level of crimes in virtually every corner of the country. And it should concern all relevant stakeholders. Even without conducting any research on the issue, it is a notorious fact that most of the people who ride in motorcycles to kidnap school children are youths who if otherwise meaningfully engaged might have been unavailable for those anti-social endeavours that now make the country very insecure.
