Fragmented labour market data is undermining productivity, job creation and economic competitiveness, prompting the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to advocate a unified national skills intelligence system to better connect employers with available talent.Â
Yemi Kale, group chief economist and managing director of Research and Trade Intelligence at Afreximbank, said the absence of an integrated labour market information architecture is preventing businesses from accessing the skills they need while millions of Nigerians remain unable to find employment opportunities that match their capabilities.
Speaking at the National Skills and Industry Alignment Roundtable in Abuja, Kale argued that Nigeria’s challenge is increasingly one of coordination rather than talent, warning that fragmented databases and disconnected information systems are limiting the country’s ability to convert its youthful population into a productive workforce.
“Across Nigeria today, we have employers that are searching for skills, and at precisely the same time, millions of Nigerians are searching for opportunities they can access. Our educational institutions continue to graduate thousands of young people every year. Yet businesses across multiple sectors report persistent shortages in critical technical, vocational and professional skills,” he said.Â
The former Statistician-General of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said Nigeria’s demographic profile, where about 70 per cent of the population is under the age of 30, offers one of the country’s greatest economic opportunities, but only if supported by stronger institutions, quality education and labour market systems capable of matching skills with industry demand.
According to him, countries that have achieved sustained economic transformation did so not because of natural resource endowments but because they systematically aligned human capital development with the evolving needs of their economies.
Kale said one defining characteristic of the world’s most competitive economies is the quality of the information systems supporting workforce development.
“The problem is that employers are searching, workers are searching, training institutions are searching, policymakers are searching and investors are searching—but they are often searching independently rather than collectively.
“The information that should connect them remains fragmented across different platforms and databases. Opportunities that should be visible remain hidden, skills that should be matched remain underutilised, and investments that should create jobs often struggle to find the talent,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Rimam Nuhu, special assistant to the vice-president on workforce development, said the federal government is developing a comprehensive labour market database to support evidence-based policymaking and improve workforce planning.
According to him, the proposed platform will help identify skills shortages, address mismatches between education and industry, and improve national productivity.
“What this database does is provide government with evidence-based recommendations regarding skills development.
“Skills development is an input for job creation. There are significant skills mismatches and shortages, and this database will provide the intelligence needed to identify exactly where those gaps exist,” Nuhu said.
He noted that improved workforce planning would enable more targeted interventions capable of raising productivity and supporting employment generation.
Afolabi Imoukhuede, strategic partnership lead in the Office of the Vice-President, said the objective is not to create another standalone policy but to integrate existing datasets into a single interoperable labour market intelligence platform.
He said the government intends to harmonise administrative records, labour market information and skills databases into a digitised system comprising a Skills Observatory, a Labour Market Information System (LMIS) and a Labour Exchange Platform.
According to him, consolidating currently siloed data will provide the intelligence required to forecast labour demand, strengthen industrial competitiveness and support evidence-based policymaking.
