How Nigeria’s youthful population could help it become a digital talent powerhouse

With a median age of just 18.1 years and more than half of its people aged under 30, Nigeria’s population is among the youngest in the world. And each year, 3.5 million young Nigerians enter the labour market, one of the largest waves of youth entering the workforce anywhere in the world right now.

At the same time, Nigeria’s digital economy is gaining ground. Its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector contributed about 20% of real GDP growth in the second quarter of 2024, outpacing traditional sectors and underscoring a shift towards a knowledge-driven economy.

Its youthful workforce and rapidly digitizing economy give Nigeria a historic opportunity. The country is starting to turn its demographic power into digital prosperity, making its people a strategic national asset. But this moment also carries risk. Without coordinated investment in skills, education and innovation, the same demographic advantage could become a liability.

Technological transformation is redefining the skills economies need. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 shows that over 60% percent of workers worldwide will require reskilling or upskilling by 2027 as automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and green transitions reshape industries.

For Nigeria, the stakes are high. A population projected to reach 400 million by 2050 needs jobs aligned with a fast-digitizing economy. But youth unemployment remains among the highest globally with 23% of young Nigerians actively looking for work, while another 32% are out of employment altogether. Employers also report persistent shortages in technical and digital skills, underscoring the need for coordinated investment. Other African countries face similar mismatches between education output and market demand, but Nigeria’s scale makes the issue especially urgent.

To address this issue, the Strategic Nigeria Talent Accelerator Roundtable convened senior leaders from government, business and development in Lagos on 11 November 2025, to launch a national partnership for skills transformation effort. Co-chaired by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Federal Ministry of Education and the World Economic Forum, the roundtable saw ministers, CEOs and development partners develop a 12-month action plan with measurable goals for training, partnerships and priority sectors for investment.

Its design rests on three pillars:

Chido Munyati, Director for Africa and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum, says of the accelerator: “By fostering collaboration between government, business and academia, we are ensuring that Nigeria’s workforce is equipped not only for the jobs of today but also for the opportunities of tomorrow.”

Demographics offer both a window and a warning. The United Nations Population Division estimates that Nigeria’s working-age population will expand by more than 100 million people within 25 years. If this surge of people enter productive employment, Nigeria could generate one of the largest demographic dividends in modern history.

If left unaddressed, however, the youth wave could strain infrastructure, social systems and security – because when large youth populations face job scarcity, studies show higher risks of urban unrest and recruitment into informal or criminal networks. The African Development Bank projects that Africa must create 68 million new jobs by 2030 simply to absorb new entrants to the workforce. Nigeria will account for a quarter of that demand.

This is why coordination is essential. The skills accelerator would go beyond isolated training schemes to create a unified national skills system that connects education, employment and enterprise.

There are several high growth sectors where Nigeria holds comparative advantage. In digital services, for example, amid rising global demand for software development, design and business-process outsourcing, Nigeria could become a regional hub for digital talent. Embedding digital and technical skills within the agriculture sector – Nigeria’s largest employer – could modernize production, logistics and add value.

When it comes to renewable energy and green industries, training youth in solar installation, maintenance and green manufacturing would align with the government’s clean energy efforts. Reskilling workers for smart manufacturing, robotics and maintenance would also enhance productivity and export competitiveness in the manufacturing sector.

To underpin the focus on these sectors, the accelerator will track live labour market data, create public-private partnerships for training delivery and champion inclusive access for women and rural youth, ensuring no region or demographic is left behind.

Nigeria’s government aims to equip millions of people with digital literacy and entrepreneurial skills by 2030, according to the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS 2020-2030) led by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy. Building on this foundation, projections from the World Bank’s Digital Economy for Africa Initiative indicate that coordinated national skills programmes can drive employment growth and competitiveness across emerging industries.

With the support of the accelerator, internal research from the National Talent Export Programme under the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment projects that Nigeria could equip 10 million young people with industry-relevant skills through blended learning models and public-private partnerships, while also reducing youth under-employment by 25% and creating new digital and technical jobs across key sectors. Nigeria could also expand its share of the digital economy beyond 25% of its GDP.

Further, the country could serve as a regional export hub for highly skilled African talent, in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Protocol on Trade in Services, which supports cross border trade in digital and professional services. The AfCFTA brings together 55 countries into a single market worth $3.4 trillion – the largest in the world by membership. Beyond tariff reductions, it establishes a unified framework for trade, investment and digital standards. World Bank projections show the AfCFTA could lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty and boost Africa’s income by over $450 billion by 2035.

These skills transformation targets are ambitious, but achievable with coordinated investment and accountability. Investing in human capital is the most resilient pathway to shared prosperity – and Nigeria has both the scale and the ambition to prove it. Nigeria’s story has always been one of potential. The difference now lies in coordination, not capacity, and in action, not aspiration.

The future of work is already here. By investing in its people, Nigeria can transform demographic pressure into global competitiveness and inspire the rest of Africa to do the same.