Nigeria has an ambitious target, that aspires to lift all of its people out of poverty by 2030 as it has 40% of its population (about 80 million people) living in Poverty.
The level of poverty in Nigeria is astronomically high despite being endowed with huge land resources and human capital, it seems no success has been achieved. Over the years, we have had several poverty eradication campaigns, which include Operation Feed the Nation, Green Revolution, Better Life for Rural Women, Family Economic Advancement Programme.
However, I personally believe the best way to solve the poverty problem is to provide gainful employment. Does that seem very easy ba? I dare say No!!! But creating or enabling jobs is a more proactive way of improving the living conditions of a household. For example, the frequent migration of Nigerians to UK, Canada, Australia and the US, has its huge importance. Firstly, it keeps improving Diaspora Remittances (more sent by Nigerians working overseas back to Nigerian Businesses/Families), this is an important part of our FOREX Policies. Secondly, it improves the household welfare. Have you noticed that most families with person’s or people abroad tend to have improved fortunes in just about a few years? Or better still, when a family member graduates and gets a meaningful job, the families fortunes tend to improve. This is one of the reasons why parents in the 80s, 90s and 2000s strived to send their kids to the best of schools to gain meaningful jobs, and drag the family out of poverty. It worked in the 80s and 90s, but today, having a good education doesn’t guarantee a good job. so what should be done.
Funnily, there is a dearth of skilled workers in Nigeria, while we have huge unemployment among educated graduates. How can there be so much scarcity and be surplus at the same time? Re-training the unemployed graduates is important to fill in the shortage that comes with this skilled workers sector. Sectors like IT and Digital, can accommodate millions of these unemployed graduates, while Agriculture can employ all of these graduates. While we can all condemn the Government easily for being subpar on their role, it’s pertinent to note that eradicating poverty can be commercialized by private companies. Ho can this be?
Creating a Finance Product, that enables individuals get trained and equipped till getting hired can be a game changer. Let me explain further, a guy Gbenga who finished with Agricultural Engineering with good interest in Information Technology, can be trained in Digital Solutions or Artificial Intelligence, given a low cost laptop and seconded for internship at a private organization; all on credit, can be a game-changer. With good legal framework and good KYC, he will pay back when he gets the job, the investor company will get a good returns on their investment (the training and the equipping), the families fortunes will change as a result of getting the job, and the society will become safer (security improves when there are less idle hands)