Eminent Emerging Entrepreneurs Foundation founder calls for grassroots industrialisation, compulsory vocational capability for graduates and financial literacy as Nigeria’s pathway from job-seeking to job creation
By A1NEWS International
ABUJA, NIGERIA — August 13, 2026:
Nigeria’s worsening security challenges cannot be sustainably addressed through policing and force alone, entrepreneur and social development advocate Marcus Eberechi has argued, saying the creation of productive and decent employment opportunities is one of the country’s most effective long-term security strategies.
Eberechi, founder of the Eminent Emerging Entrepreneurs Foundation and convener of the organisation’s 4th Annual National Dialogue on Decent Jobs Creation, made the argument in Abuja while speaking on the theme, “From Production to Prosperity: The Road to Inclusive and Decent Job Creation in Nigeria.”
His central proposition was blunt: a population with meaningful economic opportunities is less vulnerable to desperation, criminal recruitment and social instability.
“A job is the best security policy a nation can have,” he said.
The entrepreneur argued that Nigeria does not fundamentally lack energy, talent or productive capacity, but suffers from what he described as a deficit of direction, execution and coordinated grassroots economic development.
‘THE TIME FOR PATCHWORK HAS PASSED’
Eberechi said Nigeria must move beyond fragmented interventions and short-term responses to unemployment and economic insecurity.
“The time for patchwork has passed. Now is action time,” he said.
He argued that decent jobs cannot be generated through central government directives alone because economic activity is ultimately created where Nigerians live, work and produce.
He cited examples ranging from workshops in Zaria, markets in Aba, farms in Makurdi and economic activity around Yenagoa, arguing that national economic policy must translate into practical opportunities within local communities.
His proposition is that the Federal Government should create the national framework while states, local governments, traditional institutions, cooperatives and community organisations become active participants in identifying and scaling local productive capacity.
FROM NATIONAL POLICY TO GRASSROOTS PRODUCTION
According to Eberechi, governments should provide local economic actors with the tools, data and financing required to determine what their communities can produce competitively.
He called for stronger investment in:
- Business and industrial hubs;
- Technical support centres;
- Access to markets;
- Production equipment;
- Cooperative financing;
- Skills development;
- Supply-chain infrastructure; and
- Business intelligence and data.
The underlying argument is that employment expansion is more sustainable when local producers are able to move beyond subsistence production into commercially viable enterprises.
He illustrated the point with the example of a welder receiving design and technical support, or a cassava processor gaining access to appropriate packaging, cold-chain infrastructure and markets.
According to him, interventions that allow one small enterprise to expand can create a multiplier effect across local economies.
“When a welder in Kano gets design support, when a cassava processor in Benue gets packaging and cold chain, one job becomes ten, and ten becomes a hundred,” he said.
‘WE NEED STATE OPPORTUNITY TO END DESPERATION’
In a provocative comparison with Nigeria’s ongoing debate over state policing, Eberechi argued that insecurity should also be addressed through economic opportunity.
“We do not need state police to end insecurity. We need state opportunity to end desperation,” he said.
His argument does not necessarily negate the need for effective policing or security institutions. Rather, it places economic deprivation and unemployment within the broader security equation.
The logic is that policing can suppress criminal activity, but sustainable employment, enterprise and economic inclusion can reduce some of the conditions that make criminal recruitment and social instability attractive.
That proposition, however, depends on whether jobs created are actually productive, decent and sustainable, rather than temporary or politically distributed employment.
THE GRADUATE CERTIFICATE PROBLEM
Eberechi also challenged Nigeria’s approach to higher education and graduate employability.
He argued that possessing a university certificate should no longer be treated as sufficient evidence that a young Nigerian is prepared for the world of work.
“For too long, our youths have paraded NYSC certificates as proof of readiness for the world of work,” he said.
He argued that “a certificate without capability is a ticket to nowhere.”
The entrepreneur called for a major rethink of graduate certification, proposing that vocational and practical skills should become part of the requirements for graduating from Nigerian tertiary institutions.
FROM HISTORY TO DIGITAL ARCHIVES
Eberechi’s proposal is for graduates to leave university with both academic knowledge and demonstrable practical capabilities.
Under his suggested model, a History graduate should be able to digitise archives and package Nigeria’s historical resources for global audiences.
An Agriculture graduate should be capable of operating an agribusiness covering the production chain from the farm to the consumer.
An Engineering graduate, he argued, should possess the practical ability to fabricate, maintain or repair equipment.
The proposal represents a shift from a predominantly credential-based system towards a competency-based education model.
It would also require universities, polytechnics and vocational institutions to develop stronger relationships with industry and employers.
‘NYSC SHOULD NOT BE THE END OF PREPARATION’
Eberechi argued that the National Youth Service Corps should not be regarded as the final stage of preparation for employment.
Instead, he proposed that skills certification should become an integral component of graduate development.
“NYSC should not be the end of preparation. Skill certification must be the beginning,” he said.
His broader objective is to move Nigeria from an economy dominated by young people searching for scarce formal employment towards one in which more graduates possess the skills to create businesses and employ others.
The transition, however, would require substantial reforms in curriculum design, vocational education, industry partnerships, access to finance and the country’s broader business environment.
CAPITAL ALONE DOES NOT CREATE JOBS
Another major theme of Eberechi’s intervention was access to finance.
While acknowledging that capital is necessary for business expansion, he cautioned against treating funding as a complete solution to unemployment.
“Capital without wisdom is a trap,” he said.
He argued that many businesses fail not because entrepreneurs lacked access to money, but because they lacked the financial management skills required to deploy capital effectively.
Poor bookkeeping, weak cash-flow management, inadequate pricing strategies, excessive borrowing and poor understanding of markets can quickly undermine businesses even when financing is available.
FINANCIAL LITERACY AS AN ECONOMIC POLICY
Eberechi therefore called for financial education to become an integral part of government-backed economic programmes.
He argued that financial literacy should not be reduced to a political slogan deployed during election campaigns.
Instead, every major financial-support programme should incorporate training in financial management, business planning, accounting, investment, debt management and market analysis.
Such an approach, he suggested, could improve the survival rate of small businesses receiving government or development financing.
THE JOB CREATION CHALLENGE
Nigeria’s unemployment and underemployment challenges are closely connected to the country’s demographic structure.
With a large and youthful population entering the labour market each year, the economy must generate sufficient productive opportunities to absorb new entrants.
Failure to do so creates pressure on households and communities while potentially increasing vulnerability to criminal recruitment, migration pressures and social unrest.
But the challenge goes beyond simply counting jobs.
The concept of decent jobs includes adequate remuneration, safe working conditions, social protection, skills development and opportunities for advancement.
A sustainable employment strategy must therefore distinguish between genuine productive employment and temporary engagements created solely to distribute income.
FROM JOB SEEKERS TO JOB CREATORS
Eberechi’s central proposition is that Nigeria’s economic policy should increasingly focus on creating an ecosystem where citizens can become producers.
That requires more than entrepreneurship slogans.
It requires infrastructure, electricity, transport, affordable credit, digital connectivity, market access, predictable regulation and a functioning justice system.
Without those foundations, training millions of young Nigerians to become entrepreneurs could simply produce more qualified business owners operating in an environment that makes survival difficult.
This is where the entrepreneur’s call for coordinated intervention becomes significant.
Skills must connect to markets.
Capital must connect to viable businesses.
Production must connect to infrastructure.
Education must connect to employability.
Innovation must connect to commercial opportunity.
A POLICY TEST FOR GOVERNMENT
Eberechi’s remarks ultimately present Nigerian policymakers with a measurable challenge: how many sustainable jobs can economic reforms actually create?
For years, governments have announced programmes, funds, interventions and employment schemes.
The more important question is whether those programmes produce enterprises capable of surviving beyond government funding cycles.
A successful job-creation strategy should therefore be measured not simply by the amount of money disbursed or number of beneficiaries announced, but by:
- Businesses that remain operational;
- Jobs that survive beyond intervention programmes;
- Workers who acquire transferable skills;
- Enterprises that enter domestic and international markets;
- Increased productivity;
- Growth in local manufacturing and processing; and
- Household incomes that improve sustainably.
Eberechi’s argument places employment at the intersection of economic development, education reform and national security.
His central message is that Nigeria cannot sustainably address insecurity while large numbers of young people remain excluded from productive economic activity.
But creating jobs at scale will require more than government declarations.
Nigeria needs functioning infrastructure, competitive businesses, practical education, access to finance, market opportunities and policies that allow local enterprises to grow.
The entrepreneur’s call for compulsory practical skills for graduates also opens a wider debate about whether Nigerian education is producing certificates faster than it is producing employable capabilities.
Ultimately, the success of economic reform should be judged by outcomes rather than announcements.
As Eberechi put it, Nigeria should strive to be remembered not for the reforms it announced, but for the jobs it created; not for the certificates it issued, but for the skills it built; and not for the money it distributed, but for the wealth it sustained.
For a country confronting insecurity, youth unemployment and a rapidly expanding working-age population, job creation is no longer merely an economic objective. It is increasingly a question of national stability.
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