Nigeria faces significant challenges in workforce development due to technological advancements leading to a decline in traditional jobs and a lack of social protection for workers. To address these issues, the document advocates for updating the school curriculum, increasing investment in education, and implementing social protection programs. It emphasizes the need for public-private collaboration to enhance human capital development and reduce reliance on oil revenue.

1. PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR
NIGERIA’S IMPROVEMENT OF ITS
WORKFORCE
DELIVERED BY MARY GOLD
SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

2. CRUCIAL FACTS TO NOTE
Technological advancement in
Artificial Intelligence Systems
have resulted in a global decline
in traditional jobs.
Countries will be required to
empower their workforce with
more relevant skills in order to
increase human capital
development.
By 2050, more than half of the
world’s population is expected to
be in the Sub-Saharan African
region – World Population
Review.
Nigeria is currently Africa’s most
populous nation.

3. WHAT ARE THE
ISSUES?
Majority of the population in Nigeria are in
the informal sector, requiring little skills.
There is a dearth of social inclusion as the
government does not have any social
protection programs to hedge against any
unforeseen job losses due to technological
advancements.
10.5 million children are out of school in
Nigeria according to UNICEF.

4. WHY SHOULD
WE BE
BOTHERED?
There is a prediction that a large number of
children entering primary school in 2018 will
work in occupations that do not yet exist.
This implies that even children currently in
school do not possess the skills required for
adaptability to the changing nature of work,
which is shifting from traditional roles to
specialized roles demanding high level of
education and skill sets.
If nothing is done to improve enrolment in
schools, Nigeria will suffer from a huge lack
human capital necessary for its development.

5. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
The current school curriculum needs to be updated to reflect the change in the nature of work with
emphasis on continual skill acquisition.
Investment in education needs to be heavily increased to cater for the 10.5 million children out of
school through the establishment of more schools to fill the gap, and the improvement of current
school structures to a globally competitive standard.
There needs to be social protection programs to ensure that workers are protected against sudden job
loss due to redundancy as a result of technological advancements.

6. HOW DO WE FUND THESE PROGRAMS?
The provision of social services should be made subject to enrolment in the database and full disclosure of income in
order to establish the poorest of the poor in the country.
There needs to be a national database in order to track revenue received from individuals and increase collection
efficiency.
We need to increase the tax base to capture a wider net as we currently do not tax the informal sector and this makes
up more than 50% of the workforce in Nigeria currently.

7. Our nation’s human capital development requires
collaboration between the public and the private
sectors.
The public sector benefits through revenue from taxes
while the private sector benefits through profits derived
as a result of a globally competitive workforce.
Lastly, the nation will no longer rely heavily on oil
revenue or aid as a result of its investment in human
capital.
CONCLUSION

8. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!