The Federal Government and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are seeking to close the gap between youth skills development and actual employment by placing private-sector demand, enterprise growth and access to jobs at the centre of the review of Nigeria’s Youth Employment Action Plan (NIYEAP) 2025–2030.

The two-day private-sector consultation, held in Lagos, focused on why businesses struggle to create, recruit and retain young workers, while exploring practical pathways linking skills development to apprenticeships, internships, enterprise opportunities and decent work.

The initiative comes amid persistent challenges of unemployment and underemployment, skills mismatch, informality, weak school-to-work transitions and limited access to finance.

The review also identifies unequal access to employment for women, persons with disabilities, rural youth and young people outside employment, education or training.

Rather than reproduce existing studies, the consultation is designed to use available evidence to identify demand-side constraints affecting employers and enterprises, including operating costs, infrastructure, finance, market demand, regulation, productivity and economic uncertainty.

A major focus is identifying sectors and value chains capable of generating sustainable youth employment, while developing mechanisms through which businesses can contribute to demand-led training, internships, apprenticeships and school-to-work transitions.

The process is also expected to examine ways to integrate youth-led enterprises into corporate supply chains, procurement and markets, particularly by addressing the financing, infrastructure, regulatory and market-access constraints limiting the growth of small businesses and their capacity to create jobs.

The Federal Ministry of Youth Development and ILO, with technical support under the Strengthening Employment and Employability Systems in Nigeria (SEESIN) project, are seeking a private-sector engagement framework that will define business participation, financing, partnerships, monitoring and accountability under the revised plan.

The consultation brought together employers, organised private-sector groups, MSMEs, investors, training providers, youth-led enterprises and other stakeholders, alongside labour representatives from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), and employers represented by the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).

The revised framework is expected to go beyond commitments by establishing mechanisms to track employment outcomes, retention, internship conversion, enterprise survival, productivity and employer satisfaction.

It also proposes a continuing private-sector implementation mechanism, potentially through a council or working group with sector clusters, quarterly reviews, a commitment tracker and a system for escalating policy and regulatory barriers constraining youth employment.

Priority areas under consideration include agriculture and agro-processing, construction, creative industries, ICT and digitalisation, technology, green economy, energy, manufacturing, trade and services.

The focus reflects the need to align youth employment interventions with sectors where labour demand and enterprise growth can be sustained.

The workshop is expected to produce a private-sector action matrix, government-enablement framework, financing and risk-sharing options, practical apprenticeship and internship models, and a prioritised portfolio of sectors and interventions for inclusion in the revised NIYEAP.