The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) created 18,203 in 2018, according to the association’s economic review for the second half of 2018.
In the last six months of 2018, the body’s new manufacturing jobs stood at 8,883.
Man has over 2,000 members who are in different industries, ranging from food to packaging and steel.
Non-metallic group, which includes cement, glass and ceramics, created 1,369 jobs while the Chemical & Pharmaceutical group posted 1,342 jobs. Food, Beverage and Tobacco sectoral group had 1,335 jobs as Domestic/Industrial Plastic & Rubber group produced 1,125 jobs. These sectors accounted for most of the jobs created in the manufacturing sector in the second half of 2018, MAN says.
Total job loss in the second half of 2018 stood at 2,587 jobs, which was less than 5,212 and 6,050 job losses recorded in the corresponding half of 2017 and first half of 2018 respectively, MAN said.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 23.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018, up from 18.1 percent a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
As of Q3 2018, the underemployment rate was 20.1 percent, and the combined unemployment and underemployment rate was 43.3 percent, NBS said.
Unemployment rate is 7.4 percent in Kenya; 11.8 percent in Egypt; 5.2 percent in Ethiopia; and 2.4 percent in Ghana. Only South Africa is worse, with 26.6 percent.
With 87 million Nigerians living below the $1.90 baseline, almost one out every two Nigerians (44 percent) lives in extreme poverty. India is second in the poverty pedestal and has 57 million people that are extremely poor, representing just 4.4 percent of its 1.3 billion population.
Small and medium businesses are big job creators but access to capital by young and enterprising entrepreneurs averages 23 percent, according to MAN, with the benchmark monetary policy rate sitting at 13.5 percent for almost two years.
ODINAKA ANUDU
