Nigeria is at a crossroads. As the country moves toward the 2027 general election, politicians are again promising jobs. They speak about oil, agriculture and technology, but consistently ignore the one sector with the fastest, cheapest and most sustainable capacity to create jobs for ordinary Nigerians – tourism.
If leaders vying for offices from president to governor, senator and local government chairman are serious about improving citizens’ lives, tourism must become a core pillar of their economic manifestos, not a footnote, and must be implemented to the letter.
The country faces a joblessness emergency. More than 70 million young Nigerians are unemployed or underemployed. The oil sector employs less than one percent of the population directly, while white-collar jobs require qualifications most do not have. Tourism is different. Globally, it remains the world’s largest labour-intensive employer, accounting for one in 10 jobs worldwide, about 334 million jobs. It does not require a first-class degree to work as a tour guide, chef, driver, photographer, craft seller or hotel manager. It is an economy of the people.
What the world and Africa are doing is instructive. Rwanda earns over 500 million dollars yearly from gorilla tourism alone, more than the internally generated revenue of some Nigerian states. Kenya’s tourism employs 1.6 million people, while South Africa’s tourism contributes 8.6 percent to its Gross Domestic Product.
The World Travel and Tourism Council projects Africa as the next frontier for inclusive growth, with over 24 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa already tied to tourism, many for youth working as content creators, drone pilots, culinary guides and cultural curators.
Nigeria has more tourism assets than many of these countries combined, from Obudu Mountain Resort, Yankari Game Reserve, Ikogosi Warm Springs, Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, to Badagry Slave Route, Olumo Rock, Calabar Carnival and Argungu Fishing Festival. Yet, the country earns less than two percent of its GDP from tourism.
The data should concern leaders. According to the WTTC Economic Impact Report 2024, direct tourism jobs in Nigeria stood at 506,885 in 2023, representing 0.7 percent of total employment. Total jobs, including supply chain and induced impact, were 1,983,127, or 2.9 percent of employment. The council projects that by 2034, tourism will support 5,321,999 jobs, or 5.7 percent of total employment, if the right policies are implemented.
The sector is expected to create 2.6 million new jobs in the next 10 years, an average of 260,000 jobs per year, doubling current employment to 5.1 million by 2032. This is achievable without building a new refinery.
A serious manifesto must therefore be practical. First, security and access must be addressed, as no tourist visits an unsafe destination. Government must secure tourism corridors and build roads to sites.
Second, a Tourism Infrastructure Fund should be created, with at least five percent of state internally generated revenue allocated to develop at least two bankable tourism sites per state in partnership with the private sector.
Third, the informal sector, which accounts for 60 percent of tourism activity, must be formalised. Tour guides, craft makers and food vendors should be registered, trained and funded with low-interest loans.
Fourth, festivals such as Calabar Carnival, Osun-Osogbo and Argungu must be elevated from local events to global products like Brazil’s Carnival or India’s Diwali, and marketed global channels.
Fifth, local content must be enforced, mandating that every hotel, airline and resort operating in Nigeria must have 70 percent Nigerian staff in management within three years.
If leaders continue to ignore tourism and chase oil and politics as usual, nothing will change. Unemployment will persist, youth restiveness will grow, and rural communities will remain poor, despite sitting on natural wealth. Nigerians will continue to fly to Dubai, Zanzibar and Kenya to enjoy what exists at home, but remains undeveloped.
Nigeria does not have a job creation problem; it has a vision problem. Tourism is not leisure; it is a job factory, a foreign exchange earner and a unity builder that brings Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani and Efik together around shared heritage.
To all aspirants for 2027, Nigerians are tired of manifestos that promise the moon and deliver dust. If an economic blueprint does not have a clear, budgeted and time-bound tourism pillar aimed at creating sustainable jobs for ordinary Nigerians, the proponents are not ready to lead. Nigeria at 66 must choose innovation over repetition.