.
Technology, agriculture and healthcare have emerged as the sectors Nigerians consider most important for job opportunities, although employment priorities vary significantly across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
The findings are contained in the August 2026 report by SBM Intelligence, titled “Six Zones, One Crisis: What Nigerians say about jobs, skills and the risk of leaving.” The study was based on a nationwide survey of 1,180 respondents across 21 cities spanning all six geopolitical zones.
Rather than presenting Nigeria’s employment challenge as a single nationwide problem, the report highlights substantial regional differences in the sectors Nigerians believe require more jobs.
Nationally, technology ranked highest at 14.4%, followed by agriculture at 13.2% and healthcare at 12.7%. Manufacturing accounted for 11.0%, while trade recorded 10.9%.
Regional Job Priorities Differ
The Southeast recorded healthcare as its leading employment priority, with 17.8% of respondents selecting the sector. Technology followed at 13.3%, while manufacturing stood at 13.0%.
The Southwest presented a different picture, with technology taking the top position at 16.6%. Healthcare followed at 15.4%, while education ranked third at 15.1%. The pattern reflects the region’s concentration of technology companies, startups and service-sector businesses.
In the South-South, manufacturing was the most preferred sector at 15.7%, narrowly ahead of technology at 15.0%. Trade came third at 12.0%, suggesting continued demand for industrial and commercial employment despite the region’s prominent position in Nigeria’s oil economy.
Agriculture dominated employment preferences in the Northwest, where 22.6% of respondents selected it as the sector most urgently needed. Healthcare followed at 14.8%, while technology accounted for 14.4%.
The Northeast also placed agriculture at the top, although its lead was less pronounced. Agriculture received 14.2%, followed by trade at 10.2% and healthcare at 10.1%.
In the North Central, technology led with 18.1%, followed by trade at 15.0% and healthcare at 9.7%. SBM Intelligence, however, cautioned that the North Central sample was heavily concentrated in Abuja and should therefore not be interpreted as fully representative of the entire zone.
Nigeria Has Multiple Labour Market Challenges
According to the report, the regional differences reflect the economic structure, infrastructure gaps and aspirations of individual parts of the country.
Nationally, low pay was identified as the biggest obstacle to employment, accounting for 19.2% of responses. Lack of skills followed at 17.5%, while limited access to capital and credit accounted for 16.4%.
Other major barriers included a shortage of available jobs at 15.2% and poor infrastructure at 8.9%.
The nature of the employment challenge also varied by region.
In the Southeast, low wages emerged as the biggest concern at 24.8%, followed by an outright shortage of jobs at 20.9%. The report suggests that the region therefore faces not only an employment shortage but also a problem of inadequate remuneration, with some educated workers turning to small-scale entrepreneurship because of limited formal opportunities.
Skills shortages were more prominent in the Northwest and Northeast. About 26.8% of Northwest respondents identified inadequate skills and vocational training as their biggest employment barrier, compared with 22.9% in the Northeast.
Although insecurity was a significant concern in the Northeast, it did not rank as the region’s leading employment constraint.
In the Southwest, poor infrastructure accounted for 21.0% of responses, while access to capital stood at 20.0%, pointing to the role of electricity, transportation and financing challenges in limiting business expansion and job creation.
Economic Geography Shapes Employment Demand
The findings broadly correspond with the economic characteristics of the different regions.
Northern Nigeria remains a major agricultural production area, supplying significant volumes of staple foods to the wider country. This helps explain the strong preference for agricultural employment recorded in both the Northwest and Northeast.
Similarly, the Southeast’s strong showing for manufacturing reflects established industrial and commercial clusters around Aba, Nnewi and Onitsha. These areas are associated with production and trade in products including leather goods, footwear, textiles, plastics, auto parts and other manufactured items.
Healthcare’s strong ranking in the Southeast also points to demand for improved medical services and employment opportunities in the sector.
Meanwhile, the Southwest’s preference for technology mirrors the region’s concentration of digital businesses, startups and service-sector activity.
The report therefore suggests that Nigeria’s employment challenge cannot be adequately understood through a single national lens. Instead, job creation strategies may need to account for the distinct economic realities, skills gaps and infrastructure constraints confronting each geopolitical zone.
