This report examines the potential for industries without smokestacks (IWOSS) in creating large-scale job opportunities in Nigeria, particularly for the young and female population subgroups. With the emergence of technology and shifts in the global economy, the relevance of some industries in economic development have increased. These industries are codified as IWOSS. IWOSS are sectors with higher labor productivity relative to traditional agriculture, and they are also tradable (Bhorat et al. 2020; Heitzig et al. forthcoming). These sectors include agro-processing, financial and business services, information and communications technology (ICT), tourism, formal trade, and transport. The emerging role of IWOSS is particularly important as evidence indicate This report examines the potential for industries without smokestacks (IWOSS) in creating large-scale job opportunities in Nigeria, particularly for the young and female population subgroups. With the emergence of technology and shifts in the global economy, the relevance of some industries in economic development have increased. These industries are codified as IWOSS. IWOSS are sectors with higher labor productivity relative to traditional agriculture, and they are also tradable (Bhorat et al. 2020; Heitzig et al. forthcoming). These sectors include agro-processing, financial and business services, information and communications technology (ICT), tourism, formal trade, and transport. The emerging role of IWOSS is particularly important as evidence indicates that the employment crisis and poor performance of manufacturing have become major concerns in Nigeria.

The study addresses the following questions: (i) What is the employment situation in Nigeria? (ii) What is the pattern of sector growth vis-a-vis performance of IWOSS and non-IWOSS sectors in Nigeria? (iii) What is the potential growth and labor demand of IWOSS sectors? The methods employed include an evaluation of sectors’ performance in terms of growth and wage employment, analyses of present and future levels of employment and productivity, and the use of a value-chain approach to assess employment creation potential and significant constraints. These approaches are complemented with a survey conducted between February and September of 2022 with firms selected from three IWOSS sectors.

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The original Industrial Revolution was powered by steam; the second by electricity. The rise of digitisation and automation generally defined the Third Industrial Revolution, which was largely powered by oil. Today, we find ourselves in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is largely powered and characterised by data. It can hardly be contested that data is central to today’s global economy in ways which it never has been before. Data flows across borders far more frequently than at any other point in time. Most importantly, these flows are creating or have created immense value (at least on aggregate) and are, therefore, central to businesses and business practices. They have fundamentally changed what and how much is traded, as well as with whom and how trade is conducted. Put differently, cross-border data flows have increased the scope, scale, and speed of trade.

Africa is quickly becoming the new data frontier in the face of continued increase in the deployment of digital technologies. A proportionate data governance ecosystem is, however, still lacking. The available governance ecosystem is characterised by a lack of relevant institutions or in most cases non-functional institutions for effective data governance implementation. As part of the bid to understand how to create a functional and responsible data governance ecosystem that can play a vital role in Africa's competitiveness in the global data economy, this report explored the questions; what are the institutional gaps impeding responsible and sustainable data governance in Africa and what are the peculiar institutional capacity needs of existing institutions? To answer these questions, we used a multidimensional research approach to study five African countries namely Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Mauritius and South Africa. In this study, we identified clear institutional gaps and capacity needs that require significant attention.

The fact is that indigenous firms are still struggling to manage resources to invest in basic IT infrastructure. Hence data analytics adoption, which requires both human personnel and technical infrastructure, is often yet to be strategically considered, shelved for the future, or even when outsourced, it is often poorly managed and under-resourced. Others are also driven by the visibility and immediacy of results or value, which is not a characteristic of data analytics. Data analytics often requires a more intentional strategic alignment to business processes, and otherwise, its value may not be realised.
Further, for innovation to occur, data analytics processes must be sustainable. It is often a long-term value realisation activity, which many indigenous firms tend to shy away from due to limited resources and understanding.
The report argues for the need to enhance data analytics use at the national and regional levels. It proposes fifteen recommendations for creating an all-inclusive enabling environment for indigenous businesses.

This Article was Authored by Prof. Richard Boateng

The number of out-of-school children (OOSC) in Nigeria has increased at an alarming rate over the past years, reaching approximately 10.5 million children. According to the global out-of-school statistics compiled by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), this figure is the highest any country has ever recorded. UNICEF (2022) corroborates the high OOS rates in Nigeria, reporting that one in every five out-of-school children in the world is a Nigerian. The statistics are even much worse in the Northern part of Nigeria compared to other parts of the country. Net school attendance rate in Northern Nigeria, for example, is 53 percent, indicating high dropout risk. This is not withstanding continuous efforts by the federal government to enhance access to education (primary to junior secondary level) by making it free and compulsory. Evidence suggests that the high out-of-school risk in Northern Nigeria is largely associated with conflict situations and other disturbances, though socio-cultural norms, economic barriers, among others, still play a significant role.