World Bank Tasks Nigeria, Others to Reform Private Sector, Create Jobs
The World Bank has urged Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to ensure cost-effective private sector reforms, uniform policy enforcement across firm sizes and regulatory alignment with regional trading partners among other policies to overcome the challenge of slowing growth and create jobs.
The apex bank also urged governments of the region to help identify and support early-stage growth of businesses through more inclusive procurement practices and promotion of local businesses abroad to enhance human capital.
It stated this in its latest Africa’s Pulse report while calling for investment in education to boost semi-skilled occupations for the region.
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According to the report, the region’s poorest and most vulnerable individuals continue to bear the brunt of economic slowdown, as weak growth translates into slow poverty reduction and poor job growth.
The report stated that while Africa contributes 12 per cent of the global working-age population, SSA owns only two per cent of the global capital stock.
The report further noted that the development of labour-intensive manufacturing seems to be missing in Africa and limiting further effects of indirect job creation in support services and international trade.
This, the report noted, might be partly due to the lack of capital, which continues to hamper the structural transformation required for quality jobs.
The World Bank Chief Economist for Africa, Andrew Dabalen, stressed that with up to 12 million young Africans entering the labour market across the region each year, it has never been more urgent for policymakers to transform their economies and deliver growth to people through better jobs.
He said the current growth rates in the region are inadequate to create enough high-quality jobs to meet increases in the working-age population.
According to him, current growth patterns generate only three million formal jobs yearly, thereby leaving many young people underemployed and engaged in casual, piecemeal, and unstable work that does not make full use of their skills. He said creating job opportunities for the youth would drive inclusive growth and turn the continent’s demographic wealth into an economic dividend.
Also, the World Bank Economist and contributor to the report, Nicholas Woolley, said the urgency of job challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa is underscored by the huge opportunity from demographic transitions that are seen in other regions.
According to him, this will require an ecosystem that facilitates private-sector development and firm growth as well as skill development that matches business demand.
Its report further urged the region to identify interventions that will improve learning in schools as well as vocational education that can be useful in addressing the underemployed and those who have missed out on education as children.
The report also noted that girl education and access to jobs for women can reduce potential productivity loss from the misallocation of female labour.
