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For the first time in many years, government is taking the issue
of occupational classification and survey seriously as the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), in collaboration with the National Planning Commission and
the Nigerian Institute for Economic Research recently conducted a National
Manpower Stock and Employment Generation Survey.

The study is to determine the employment situation of Nigerians
at home and abroad. The bureau said the survey would measure the size of the
informal sector and its contribution to the GDP (gross domestic product).

Henry Eteama, head of the public affairs and international
relation unit of the NBS, said the purpose of the survey is to know the manpower
stock in the country.

“In line with the International Standard Classification of
Occupations, we need to know how many doctors, engineers, nurses and other
professionals are in the country,” he said.

He said the survey has been concluded and analysis is ongoing,
adding that response from Diaspora Nigerians has not been too encouraging.

Economically active

According to the NBS, the survey aims at determining the
economically active population by examining the employment, underemployment,
and unemployment characteristics distributed by demographic, socio-economic,
and geographic variables, as well as assess the stocks and requirements of
human resources in order to determine under-utilisation and over-supply of
these resources in the Nigerian labour market.

The bureau said from the survey, it would be able to capture the
manpower stock of Nigerians working abroad. It would also examine the impacts
of remuneration packages on labour productivity as well as labour turn-over,
supply to and withdrawal from the Nigerian labour market, and analyse the
manpower stock and occupational profile of the labour force in Nigeria and
Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Educational impediments

Mr. Eteama said the survey would help to identify labour
market-related problems militating against effective development and
utilisation of manpower in the country.

“That would inform policies in areas of deficiency and how
educational curriculum can be modified to meet the needs,” he said.

Doyin Salami, member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of
the Central Bank and lecturer at Pan African University, Lagos, said recently
that there was need for the Nigerian educational system to be overhauled.

“Issues of jobs and youth empowerment have to be planned 10 to
20 years. If the economy has to create jobs, key impediments have to be taken
away,” he advised.

Such impediments include restructuring the education sector so
that institutions can churn out employable graduates.

“Not only do we have unemployment, we also have the unemployable.
So even if jobs are created, where are the people to be employed?”

The International Standard Classification of Occupations is an
International Labour Organization (ILO) classification structure and is a tool
for organising jobs into a clearly defined set of groups according to the tasks
and duties undertaken in the job.

According to the ILO, the classification, among other things,
helps in the management of short or long term migration of workers between
countries, as well as in the development of vocational training programmes and
guidance.