Beyond The Certificate: Is Nigeria Preparing Its Young People For Jobs, Or Preparing Them To Create The Future?
Introduction: A generation with potential, but where are the opportunities?
Nigeria has no shortage of ambitious young people. From the university graduate refreshing job portals every morning to the self taught graphic designer searching for clients, the roadside food vendor trying to expand a small business, and the technically gifted teenager who cannot afford professional training, the country’s youth population represents an enormous reservoir of talent.
Yet, for many of these young people, ambition has become an expensive journey and this is the story of our lives.
A university degree does not automatically translate into employment. A professional certificate does not guarantee a decent income. A business idea does not necessarily attract investment. And possessing digital skills does not mean having access to the equipment, infrastructure, networks and opportunities required to make those skills commercially valuable.
This raises a fundamental question: Are we genuinely empowering young people, or are we simply teaching them how to survive in an economy that has not adequately prepared to accommodate their potential?
Youth empowerment must mean more than distributing starter packs, organising motivational seminars or taking photographs at graduation ceremonies. It must involve building the practical capacity, economic opportunities and institutional support that enable young people to become productive contributors to society and at large.
Across Nigeria, this challenge is becoming increasingly important. It is also why private sector participation in youth development deserves closer attention.
Among the initiatives worth examining is Nestlé’s contribution through its Nestlé Needs YOUth programme, which focuses on employment and employability, entrepreneurship and agripreneurship.
The bigger question, however, is not simply whether young people are receiving training. It is whether that training is translating into lasting economic opportunities.
THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN EDUCATION AND EMPLOYABILITY
One of Nigeria’s persistent development challenges is the disconnect between education and the practical demands of the workplace.
For years, young Nigerians have been encouraged to obtain qualifications, accumulate certificates and pursue academic excellence. While education remains indispensable, the transition from the classroom to the workplace is often complicated by limited practical exposure, inadequate industry connections and insufficient access to specialised training.
The result is a growing need to rethink what it means to prepare a young person for the future.
A young person studying engineering, for instance, needs more than theoretical knowledge of machines and industrial processes. They need opportunities to operate equipment, solve technical problems, understand workplace standards and develop the confidence to function in an actual industrial environment.
This is where industry-led technical training becomes particularly valuable.
Nestlé Nigeria’s Technical Training Programme provides an example of how private-sector expertise can complement conventional education. Through its technical training centres in Agbara, Abaji and Flowergate, the company has provided training in areas including mechanical, electrical and automation engineering.
In December 2024, Nestlé and the Swiss Consulate reported that 70 young Nigerians from the company’s technical training programmes had completed apprenticeships. The initiative also provided opportunities for top-performing participants to undertake an eight week apprenticeship at technical sites in Switzerland.
This approach deserves attention because it connects learning with practical experience.
It demonstrates an important principle: young people should not have to wait until they secure their first job before discovering how the workplace operates.
However, the larger development question remains: how can more Nigerian businesses adopt similar models, particularly small and medium sized enterprises that cannot independently establish technical training centres?
If industry partnerships, vocational institutions and government programmes work together, practical training can become a more accessible pathway into employment rather than an opportunity available to only a limited number of beneficiaries.
FROM LOOKING FOR JOBS TO CREATING LIVELIHOODS
Not every young person will secure a salaried position. Indeed, a sustainable youth development strategy cannot depend exclusively on the ability of government and large corporations to employ every graduate.
Entrepreneurship must therefore be treated as an essential component of economic empowerment. But entrepreneurship is not simply telling a young person to start a business.
A sustainable enterprise requires knowledge of customers, pricing, inventory management, cash flow, marketing, distribution, business operations and financial discipline. Without these foundations, even a promising business idea can struggle to survive.
This is where Nestlé Professional’s My Own Business (MYOWBU) initiative offers an interesting example.
In June 2025, Nestlé Professional reported that it had trained more than 300 operators and attendants within its MYOWBU programme in Lagos.
The initiative supports young people in establishing livelihoods through street vending, offering a structured business opportunity rather than treating informal trading as an activity without economic value.
The significance of this model goes beyond selling beverages.
It illustrates how an established business can create opportunities within its wider distribution and commercial ecosystem, allowing individuals to participate in economic activity without necessarily having to establish a manufacturing company or secure a traditional corporate job.
For a young person with limited resources, access to an organised business model, practical guidance and an established product ecosystem can represent a meaningful starting point.
Nevertheless, entrepreneurship support must go further than initial training.
Young entrepreneurs need sustained mentorship, transparent financial arrangements, access to working capital, market opportunities and measurable pathways to business growth.
The real test of an empowerment programme should not be how many people attended its workshops, but how many businesses remain operational, how many livelihoods have improved and how many participants have progressed beyond their initial level of economic activity.
THE CASE FOR SKILL THAT MEET THE FUTURE
The world of work is changing rapidly. Digital technology, automation, artificial intelligence, modern manufacturing, logistics and evolving consumer behaviour are transforming the skills employers require.
Nigeria’s young people cannot afford to be prepared exclusively for yesterday’s economy.
Technical and vocational education must evolve alongside technological development. Equally, digital literacy, communication, problem-solving, creativity and financial competence should become integral components of youth development.
Nestlé’s global Needs YOUth initiative reflects this broader approach to preparing young people for economic participation. The company launched the initiative in 2013 with an ambition to help 10 million young people worldwide access economic opportunities by 2030.
Its framework recognises that opportunities for young people extend beyond conventional recruitment to include employability, entrepreneurship and agricultural enterprise.
This is an important direction because the future of youth empowerment will depend on how effectively organisations connect skills development to actual economic demand.
Training a young person to use technology is valuable. Helping that individual apply the technology to solve a business problem, secure employment or establish a sustainable enterprise is even more valuable.
The distinction is crucial.
EMPOWERMENT MUST INCLUDE THE YOUNG PEOPLE WE RARELY SEE
There is another dimension of youth development that deserves greater attention: inclusion.
Not every young Nigerian has access to the same opportunities.
A young person in Lagos may have relatively greater access to training centres, internet connectivity and business networks than someone living in a rural community. Young women may encounter additional barriers to finance, professional mobility and participation in certain technical occupations. Young people with disabilities may face inaccessible training facilities and recruitment processes.
An empowerment programme that reaches only those who are already positioned to succeed risks reinforcing existing inequalities.
For this reason, effective youth-development initiatives must deliberately consider geographical inclusion, affordability, gender equality and accessibility.
They should also establish transparent selection processes so that opportunities are not determined by personal connections or proximity to influential institutions.
Nestlé’s technical training and entrepreneurship initiatives offer a foundation for further conversations about how private sector programmes can reach more communities and accommodate different categories of young people.
The objective should be to make opportunity less dependent on where someone was born, the financial circumstances of their family or the networks they inherited.
Talent is not concentrated in metropolitan cities. Opportunity should not be either.
MEASURING EMPOWERMENT BEYOND THE LAUNCH CEREMONY
Perhaps the most important question confronting youth development programmes is how success is measured.
The number of participants trained is useful information, but it is not sufficient evidence of long-term impact.
A training programme may graduate hundreds of participants without establishing whether they secured employment, increased their income, started businesses or improved their professional prospects.
A more comprehensive approach should measure outcomes over time.
For technical training, this means tracking certification, employment placement, workplace retention and career progression.
For entrepreneurship, it means assessing business survival, revenue growth, access to markets, financial independence and the ability to create additional employment.
For employability programmes, it means examining whether participants can demonstrate the competencies employers require and whether they have successfully transitioned into meaningful work.
Such measurements would help companies, policymakers and development partners distinguish between activities that generate impressive publicity and interventions that produce lasting social and economic value.
It would also encourage accountability, improve programme design and strengthen public confidence in corporate social investment.
Private sector organisations should publish clearer impact assessments, while government institutions should develop stronger mechanisms for evaluating partnerships that seek to address unemployment and underemployment.
Youth empowerment must be a measurable development commitment, not merely a recurring corporate slogan.
THE RESPONSIBILTY OF GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
No single organization can solve Nigeria’s youth development challenge. Government has a responsibility to strengthen education, improve infrastructure, expand access to affordable finance, create an enabling business environment and support institutions that provide relevant vocational and technical education.
Private sector organizations must contribute industry knowledge, workplace exposure, mentorship, investment and opportunities within their value chains.
Educational institutions must move beyond examination centered learning and establish stronger relationships with employers and industries.
Development organizations must help address gaps in access, inclusion and funding. And young people must also be recognised as active participants in their own development, not merely recipients of assistance.
They need opportunities to learn, experiment, innovate, make mistakes and build sustainable livelihoods. The strongest youth development ecosystem is one in which these responsibilities reinforce one another.
For instance, a technically trained young Nigerian should be able to move from vocational education into an apprenticeship, from apprenticeship into employment, and eventually into entrepreneurship or specialised professional practice.
Similarly, a young entrepreneur should be able to access training, mentorship, finance and markets without having to navigate an unnecessarily complicated system.
This is the kind of continuity that transforms isolated empowerment initiatives into meaningful economic development.
CONCLUSION: NIGERIA MUST STOP MEASURING POTENTIAL AND START UNLOCKING IT
Nigeria’s young people do not lack ambition. What many lack is a reliable bridge between their abilities and the opportunities that can turn those abilities into economic progress.
The future of youth empowerment will not be determined by the number of inspirational speeches delivered, certificates distributed or programmes launched.
It will be determined by whether a young person can acquire a practical skill, secure decent work, build a sustainable business, support a family and contribute meaningfully to national development.
Nestlé Nigeria’s technical training and MYOWBU initiatives illustrate two different ways businesses can participate in this process: by developing industry relevant capabilities and by creating pathways into entrepreneurship.
These efforts deserve recognition, but they also point towards a larger responsibility for the private sector, government and society to expand access, strengthen accountability and ensure that opportunities translate into lasting outcomes.
Ultimately, empowerment should not end when a training programme concludes. That is where the real journey should begin.
Nigeria does not simply need a generation of young people who are employable. It needs a generation equipped to innovate, build businesses, strengthen industries, create jobs and solve problems.
Because the true measure of youth empowerment is not how many young people we have trained to enter the economy. It is how many we have equipped to transform it.
