New Telegraph

Can The Sports Entertainment Sector Ease the Youth Unemployment Situation in Nigeria?

There is no doubt that Nigeria has a significant problem with youth unemployment. As a country that is blessed with a median population age of 18, it’s failing to reap the potential rewards that these young people growing into productive roles could bring.

There are many reasons for this including a lack of jobs available for young people, many of whom are only educated to senior secondary school level. One area that could possibly help the situation is sports entertainment with its associated impacts on connected industries.

This industry has the potential to bring productive employment to the youth of Nigeria according to this source who said;

“Young people in Nigeria have long had a passion for sport. This passion can bring many positives to the country. Young athletes have the opportunity to compete in overseas sports leagues like the NFL where opportunities are in abundance backed by money from sponsorship, fan attendance at games, and the legalization of sports betting in many US states.

There are also opportunities for young Nigerians to gain productive employment as a result of sports related activities in Nigeria such as boxing and kickboxing.”

In order to understand how this might happen, it’s important to know the background to the unemployment situation that exists in Nigeria right now.

Causes of youth unemployment in Nigeria

There are several reasons for the high numbers of unemployed young people in Nigeria. One of the main causes is the fact that the highest level of education for around 80% of the labor force is senior secondary school. This is partly due to the lack of university places and partly to the fact that a university education often does not enable easier access to employment.

The fact is that there is a lack of opportunities in both skilled and unskilled work in the country. So, the labor market does not have enough roles for the youth who are coming into it and often young people are not suitably qualified for certain roles.

How sports entertainment can help

There are many theories about how to deal with the youth unemployment issue in Nigeria, one of which was recently espoused by sports entrepreneur Gospel Obolo who is also CEO of Renew Empire, a sports and entertainment conglomerate.

He spoke of his opinions at an opening of a sports entertainment complex in Port Harcourt, an area which is attempting to raise its tourism profile. Obolo believes that bringing sports like boxing to the area will create opportunities for young people in the sport itself and in related industries such as hospitality and tourism.

He could certainly have a point but whether he manages to convince the government, and other influential stakeholders, of the benefits of sport entertainment remains to be seen. It’s certainly one potential path that could be taken in order to alleviate a youth unemployment problem that has the potential to continue damaging the financial stability of Nigeria.

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