Create 3 million new jobs a year through industrialisation, public work and agricultural expansion
Seven years on, Buhari’s government has struggled to meet this target.
The data is disjointed, but using official statistics we have been able to piece together the bigger picture.
- The National Bureau of Statistics estimates 1.21 million jobs were created from the third quarter of 2015 (the first full quarter under Buhari) to the second quarter of 2016. However the number of people with jobs fell from 68.4 to 68 million, and unemployment rose from 9.9 to 13.3%.
- By the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of people with jobs had plunged to 46.5 million, with unemployment at 33.3%. Further, 23.19 million people were unemployed – that is, they worked less than 20 hours a week.
The upshot is that Nigeria has struggled to create enough jobs in the last seven years. If anywhere near 21 million jobs had been created as pledged, the impact would have been apparent in the numbers.
– Africa Check, updated May 2022. First tracked in 2018, and reviewed in 2020.