The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has condemned Nigeria’s worsening youth unemployment as a stark failure of leadership, referencing a recent ActionAid/Plan International report that estimates over 80 million young Nigerians are currently jobless.
In a statement on Tuesday, Obi noted that Nigeria now has the highest absolute number of unemployed youths in the world, a situation he attributes to poor economic management amid the country’s large population.
He contrasted this with South Africa, where youth unemployment is around 60 per cent—equivalent to roughly six million young people, still over 70 million fewer than in Nigeria.
Obi stressed that youth unemployment is not merely a problem for young people but a leadership failure, driven by political greed and decades of misplaced priorities.
With approximately 75 per cent of Nigerians under the age of 35, he described the crisis as a national emergency.
Rather than investing in youths as productive assets or supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to drive growth and job creation, Obi lamented that successive governments have pursued wasteful spending, corruption, unproductive borrowing, and policies that exacerbate poverty.
“Nigeria does not lack entrepreneurial and resourceful youths. What we lack are leaders who are intentional about creating opportunities through deliberate investments in production and prudent, transparent, people-centred governance,” he said.
Obi emphasised that meaningful job creation requires purposeful leadership that recognises youths as the engine of national productivity and growth.
He urged young Nigerians to actively participate in politics to elect leaders who genuinely represent their interests and the country’s future.
“Nigeria deserves competent, credible, compassionate, and capable leadership, one that will create opportunities and empower our young people,” Obi concluded.