Nigeria faces unrest risk as human capital deficit chokes corporate growth
Nigeria’s failure to invest in its workforce is creating acute talent shortages for the private sector and raising the risk of destabilising social unrest, according to top government and business leaders.
Nigeria’s corporate sector is paying the price for the government’s chronic neglect of its workforce. At BusinessDay’s 14th Annual CEO Forum on Thursday, National Health Insurance Authority director-general Kelechi Ohiri warned that the country is approaching a demographic tipping point. He drew a direct line between the state's failure to fund health and education and the severe sociopolitical unrest seen in the Middle East, where large, restless youth populations lack jobs, skills, and basic healthcare.
The operational impact on businesses is already stark. Ohiri noted that talent acquisition has become the foremost operational headache for chief executives, a crisis worsened by a relentless brain drain. This is the direct result of a historic lack of investment that now severely hurts the private sector, with the healthcare sector hit especially hard by the exodus of skilled professionals.
Lagging labour productivity underscores the depth of the problem. Speaking during a session titled “Technology, Wellbeing and Workforce Efficiency,” Olayinka David-West, dean of the Lagos Business School, noted that an economy cannot be built without prioritising its workers. Her comments follow data showing Nigeria’s human capital index sits at just 36 percent, a severe constraint on corporate efficiency and broader economic growth.
The panel explored how artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure could help build a future-ready workforce. However, Ohiri criticised a persistent governmental bias toward hard infrastructure and energy projects, arguing leaders regularly overlook the country’s ultimate engine of growth: its people. He contrasted this with East Asian economies like Indonesia, which engineered economic transformations four decades ago through intentional investments in demographic management, health, and education.
For investors, these structural deficits present a clear, immediate risk. Ohiri asserted that bridging these gaps is crucial for survival, and that building a globally competitive economy is impossible without deliberate investment in health, education, and social welfare. Until the state addresses this fundamental driver, companies will continue to face severe talent constraints alongside the looming threat of social instability.
