Employment generation remains an important factor if the Nigerian government wants to claim they have delivered the dividends of democracy. Like many other African countries, Nigeria is full of youths below the age of 35 years. The task to create employment is for all African countries and, in Nigeria, for all tiers of government.
The Lagos State Government recently held its flagship investment forum at the Convention Centre of Eko Hotels and Suites. The third in the series, tagged Invest Lagos 3.0, with the theme “Lagos Business Gateway to Africa, was held June 8-9, 2026. The Lagos State Government convened the forum in conjunction with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. The goals of the convention were to attract over US$2.5bn and to target N4tn in local and foreign direct investment. The focus is not on employment generation, though the outcome of generating the expected funds would normally involve the creation of jobs.
For many years, many Nigerian states have convened economic fora focusing on fund generation instead of directly addressing more economic variables with fund generation as a by-product. Focusing on employment, output, and/or labour productivity as the primary aim of a forum and targeting some returns on investments as specific objectives should make such a forum worthwhile. Our focus is not always on the means to get the required funds, but on getting the funds by any means.
When President Muhammadu Buhari’s government projected creating three million jobs annually, as enshrined in the APC manifesto, one felt comfortable going with the party, as it has measurable goals. However, the government was unable to achieve that goal or anything close to it. The fact that it recognised one of the main problems bedevilling the Nigerian economy was quite appreciated. The present government, from the same party, is not focused on employment generation, though it remains an albatross, but on how to achieve a US$1tn economy. An economy with a high level of unemployment, low productivity, a huge internal and external debt profile, poor health conditions, and poverty cannot declare itself as reaching the desired US$1tn economy. People who dream too much of getting rich outside decent work or production end up stealing or being enmeshed in corruption and ultimately in disgrace. You can equate that to a country.
The focus of economic forums, at the point we are, should be on employment generation through economic expansion. So, policy initiatives and implementation should also focus on this. Recently, the IMF proposed that it was time for the government to implement higher taxes and interest rates. Those are anti-development prescriptions, and it tells us how friendly that kind of institution is and should be treated. Already we have a high cost of production arising largely from high cost of energy, high transport costs, and, high cost of credits or borrowing, which is linked to current high interest rates. These institutions do tell us that Nigeria has one of the lowest tax rates, but they do not reckon with the fact that there is an inflation tax that we suffer.
Nigerians provide water, electricity and some utilities themselves, which are some forms of taxes. The IMF knew what they wanted to achieve. Yorubas call them “afe k’aje, ma fe k’ayo”; they want us to exist, not live well.
Back to the basics, an investment or economic forum should aim at generating a specific number of employment opportunities through new ventures or expansion of existing businesses or filling of vacant positions with Nigerians. The focus of investment should be on manufacturing enterprises. The federal and state governments should state the level of output or employment expected per forum, not the expected investment value. Increase in output will, of necessity, result in an improvement in income and employment of human and non-human resources. Also, an increase in employment will, apart from the income to new employees, increase revenue to the government through personal income taxes from workers and corporate taxes from new and old companies.
A national economic summit involving the federal, state, and local governments, with the private sector, including the financial sector, can agree on employment generation nationally and by state/local governments, the modus operandi, and by period. Justin Lin, in his theory of inclusive growth, posited that countries’ development should follow a comparative advantage-following strategy in development rather than a comparative advantage-defying strategy.
This implies that industrialisation or investments should be geared towards using domestic natural or available resources as major inputs in production. In this context, Lagos State, for instance, can invest in or provide incentives for businesses using by-products from the Dangote Petroleum Industry, marine-related businesses, and food processing companies. Benue State and others in the Middle Belt zone are often tagged the food basket of Nigeria, and their manufacturing should centre on small- and medium-scale agro-allied enterprises. The government support for North Central States’ manufacturing should focus on textile and food production, while Eastern State governments’ support for manufacturing should be in the core iron and steel enterprises, like vehicle manufacturing. The North-West and North-East governments should promote leather manufacturing, while the South-South generally should be interested in petrochemical industries.
To say that “government has no business in business” is relevant where corruption in governance has become an overarching practice. Today, in advanced and emerging economies across the globe, where adequate punishment awaits corrupt personnel and corruption is actually minimised, governments engage in direct intervention, public-private partnerships, and government agencies assisting SMEs to obtain funds from specialised financial institutions like the Bank of Industry. More importantly, power infrastructure is an important variable in industrialisation, which is being advocated here. The laws now allow state governments and others to generate electricity. Thus, the starting point for attracting investment is to provide an enabling environment, where availability and affordable power are the major factors. Abia State has done it, and there is no excuse for other states to show seriousness in this regard.
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