The Nigeria economy continues to be plagued with unemployment especially amongst youths with about 29.7% and 25.7% of youths aged between 15-34 years reported in the third quarter of 2018 as being underemployment and unemployment respectively (Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Limited access to employment opportunities is a key challenge because economic growth does not translate into employment. This jobless growth is due to economic and political crises that have plagued the country for years and which needs to be tackled. Policy-relevant discussions must first identify sectors that have the potential for job creation and the conditions required to make them more productive and attractive for investors so as to stimulate and promote decent jobs for youths.

Growth Sectors for Youth Employment (GSYE) is an African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) collaborative research that is seeking to provide research evidence on which economic sectors have the potential to significantly create employment for youth. The project was commissioned by INCLUDE, with support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project is implemented by AERC in conjunction with the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The project aims to provide research evidence on the economic sectors with the highest multipliers and potential to create employment opportunities for young people in the continent.

This policy brief presents the country case study of Nigeria, one of the nine countries selected for country-specific research.

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