Impressed by Jimmy Khoury’s viral LinkedIn put up, “African youngsters, listen,” this function confronts a stark reality many would relatively ignore: the longer term is not about potential; it’s about preparation.
Nigeria sits on the sting of a youthquake. The nation boasts the biggest youth inhabitants in Africa, with over 70 p.c of its inhabitants beneath 30. Every year, roughly 600,000 graduates are churned out by Nigerian universities, but solely a fraction discover significant employment. The paradox is jarring: a nation bursting with younger, energetic minds, but paralysed by a talent hole that widens by the hour.
“If the Nigerian youth don’t pivot rapidly from passive shoppers to energetic creators, they threat turning into irrelevant within the financial system of tomorrow.”
Tolu, 23, sits within the reception of an workplace in Lagos, scrolling via Instagram reels to calm her nerves. She is right here for a job interview, certainly one of dozens she has attended since graduating with a second-class diploma in enterprise administration almost 14 months in the past. None have led wherever.
She is much from alone. Based on the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics, youth unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria stood at a mixed 15.7 p.c as of the second quarter of 2024. This determine is greater than only a statistic; it’s a ticking time bomb.
The exhausting reality? Levels not assure jobs. Abilities do. And within the fourth industrial revolution, fuelled by synthetic intelligence, digital literacy, and private branding, most Nigerian youths are dangerously unarmed.
“In case you refuse to study AI, you’ll work for individuals who did. AI is reshaping each trade—agriculture, finance, logistics, schooling, and media. Those that perceive easy methods to use it’ll lead; those that don’t will comply with orders for the remainder of their lives.” — Jimmy Khoury
This isn’t alarmism. It’s actuality. Throughout the globe, AI is reshaping each trade. In Kenya, farmers use AI-driven apps like PlantVillage to detect crop illnesses. In Rwanda, AI methods are powering good well being diagnostics in rural clinics. In the meantime, in Nigeria, thousands and thousands of youths scroll TikTok for hours each day, unbothered by the shifting tectonics of the worldwide job market.
If the Nigerian youth don’t pivot rapidly from passive shoppers to energetic creators, they threat turning into irrelevant within the financial system of tomorrow.
The talents deficit is the brand new poverty
Based on the World Financial Discussion board, by 2030, 375 million employees globally might want to swap occupations or improve their abilities as a result of AI automation. Nigeria’s schooling system, inflexible and outdated, is producing graduates skilled for jobs that not exist.
The typical Nigerian graduate lacks proficiency in primary digital instruments, not to mention AI, information analytics, or cloud computing, abilities now deemed important. The disconnect is staggering. Whereas the world prepares for a future outlined by clever machines, many Nigerian college students are nonetheless being skilled with chalk on blackboards.
As if that isn’t bleak sufficient, there’s additionally the disaster of invisibility.
Private branding: The brand new employment forex
In at present’s digital financial system, your community typically issues as a lot as your internet price. Private branding isn’t vainness; it’s visibility. Recruiters now search LinkedIn, not submitting cupboards. And but, what number of Nigerian youths can current a compelling digital profile? What number of can articulate their abilities, values, and achievements past an overused CV?
“If individuals don’t know who you’re and what you stand for, you may be ignored—no matter your abilities. Within the journey of life, that you must go together with individuals when you actually wish to succeed. You could arrive sooner alone, however you arrive stronger and go farther with others.” — Dr. Richard Ikiebe, Yaba Faculty of Thought (YSoT)
Certainly, this technology is each blessed and burdened by the web. By no means earlier than has entry to studying been so plentiful, but distractions have by no means been so pervasive. The identical smartphone that streams Netflix can even stream coding courses, AI tutorials, or international webinars. However the alternative is particular person and consequential.
From rants to duty
After all, systemic failure can’t be denied. Nigeria’s leaders have underinvested in schooling and innovation. Public universities are chronically underfunded; broadband infrastructure stays patchy; and thousands and thousands of secondary college college students are nonetheless exterior the digital ecosystem. However whereas we watch for institutional reforms, younger individuals should construct private revolutions.
The long run wouldn’t wait. It might not pause as a result of Nigeria continues to be struggling to repair WAEC or ASUU strikes. International labour markets have gotten extra distant, extra skills-driven, and fewer forgiving of mediocrity.
The case for urgency: A youth-led digital reboot
It’s time we stopped romanticising resilience and began weaponising competence. Each Nigerian teenager at present has two crucial instruments: a smartphone and time. Those that make investments their hours studying instruments like ChatGPT, Python, Canva, or information analytics, and who doc their studying journeys on-line, will rise above their friends.
They may construct digital portfolios, appeal to international purchasers, and earn in {dollars}, even from Ogbomosho or Onitsha. Others, who waste these years scrolling, reposting skits, and blaming the federal government with out constructing capability, will face harsher truths.
This isn’t motivational fluff. It’s a name to survival.
What could be carried out?
Coverage shift: Authorities should revamp curricula to embed coding, AI, and entrepreneurship from the secondary college stage.
Company intervention: Nigerian companies ought to sponsor tech upskilling bootcamps focused at jobless graduates.
Youth company: People should dedicate simply half-hour each day to studying future-proof abilities and constructing their model whereas at it.
We aren’t quick on desires in Nigeria. We’re quick on preparation. The following decade belongs to the digitally literate, the self-aware, and the strategically seen.
The clock is ticking. And because the proverb goes, “One of the best time to plant a tree was 20 years in the past. The second-best time is now.”
Let the youth rise, not simply to protest, however to code, create, and conquer.
