The Federal Government on Tuesday unveiled plans to establish a National Skills Database as part of efforts to reduce unemployment, address the growing mismatch between available skills and industry needs, and strengthen workforce planning through data-driven policies.
The proposed database, to be developed under a Nigerian Skills Observatory, is expected to provide real-time information on the supply and demand of skills across sectors, enabling better job matching, improved policy formulation and targeted investments.
The initiative was unveiled at the second National Skills and Industry Alignment Roundtable Series held in Abuja with the theme, “The Role of Data in Job Creation, Coordination and Linkages.”
Delivering the keynote address, the Group Chief Economist and Managing Director of Research and Trade Intelligence at Afreximbank, Yemi Kale, said Nigeria’s labour market challenge was no longer the absence of data but the inability to convert existing information into actionable intelligence.
“The challenge for us as a nation is not one of data accumulation. It is one of data integration and intelligence,” Kale said.
