by Alexander O. Onukwue

As the World continues its full recovery from the Global Economic Crisis of 2008, which led to large gaps in the labour market, coupled with advances in technology, the amount of opportunities available for job-seekers has shrunk considerably.

Though the strongest economy in the region (and 21st in the world) by Gross Domestic Product, Nigeria finds itself outside the top five in Africa in other key indices such as the Ease of doing business, Corruption Perception and unemployment. The recession has not been exclusive to Nigeria – the South African Economy officially has entered a recession – but the challenges have continued to rise, especially of unemployment.

Due to the variance in the definition formulae of calculations employed by different countries, it may not be easy to make generalisations about the state of corruption in Africa. However, the numbers from the Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics shows how Nigeria compares with other African countries.

With Nigeria’s Q4 Unemployment at 14.2%, the following countries are ‘worse’:

Djibouti:               54%

Congo:                  46.1%

Kenya:                  40%

Namibia:              34%

South Africa:      27.7%

The following countries can be said to have a better employment rate than Nigeria:

Togo:                     7.1%

Burkina Faso:     6.6%

Chad:                    5.6%

Cote d’Ivoire:     5.3%

Guinea:                1.7%

Qatar – the Arab nation which recently saw seven nations sever ties with it – has the lowest unemployment rate in the world at 0.2%, with an annual GNI per capita in excess of $130,000. GDP per capita income for Nigeria, as at 2015, stands at about $5,000.