| Introduction :
BACKGROUND AND ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with a population of 200 million people and a growth rate of 2.4% is in the process of recovering from the recession it has been experiencing in 2016 before the Covid19 pandemic and the collapse of global oil prices, both of which gained momentum in the first quarter of 2020. It has a burgeoning youth population which faces fluctuating economic growth, poverty, and unemployment. The latter remains a big challenge, with the national unemployment rate standing high at over 33%, with youth unemployment (ages 15 to 24) at an even higher rate, 42.5%. The World Bank’s Nigeria Jobs Report of 2015 found that the Nigerian economy needs to create 40-50 million jobs between 2010 and 2030. These numbers translate into over 2 million additional jobs per year. With 19% of the country’s population aged between 15-24, 27% between 25-49 years and the population expected to have doubled by 2050 including more than 50% of youth, investing in Nigeria’s youth becomes more urgent than ever. While youth unemployment and underemployment reach 40%, Nigeria produces about 600,000 graduates to the labour market every year. Despite this human capital and technical expertise, the employment and labour markets in the public and private sectors do not favor young and recent graduates, thereby contributing to rising unemployment and outflux of highly skilled talent as economic migrants in search of greener pastures. In response to this complex development challenge, the Federal Government of Nigeria – under the oversight of the Office of the Vice President with support from UNDP has established the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP) as a platform for providing outstanding young Nigerians with practical ‘on-the-job’ skills and leadership competencies through a twelve-month fully paid placement opportunity. Through this programme, highly qualified recent graduates having completed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) will be provided with a unique 12-month placement-work opportunity within Private and Public Sector institutions, including in development with the intention of enhancing their professional and leadership capacities. The applications for the Jubilee Fellows Programme opened on the 6th of September and closed on the 20th of October 2021. A first cohort of 20,000 shortlisted applicants was inducted into the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Roster with matching and placement processes commencing in October 2022. As of March2023, approximately 2500 fellows have been placed in Host Organizations across the country including the Federal Capital Territory. To sustain the process of effective execution of the talent management process – that includes – employer attraction, employer screening, fellows selection, matching, onboarding, placement and offboarding UNDP OFFICE NIGERIA PROCUREMENT UNIT |
