LABOUR MIGRATION IN NIGERIA: UNEMPLOYMENT AND INFLATION

Abstract

Nigeria is undoubtedly Africa's giant, with over two hundred million people. Despite this figure, the country appears to have been flooded with labour migrants working in almost all sectors of the economy, ranging from oil and gas to telecommunications, construction and recent distribution with, among others, the entrance to the super mall, Shoprite. Many organisations play a key role in supporting prospective migrants across regional frontiers of labour migration. This includes employers who directly recruit prospective migrants, public employment agencies that match local labour and jobs abroad, the network of migrants facilitating access to the foreign labour market, and private recruitment and for-profit agencies. The study was anchored on Neoclassical Economics, New Economics of Migration and Segmented Labor-market Theory. The study deployed secondary data from the National Bureau of Statistics (See appendix I – IV). Appendix I shows the entry and exit of the Nigerian labour migration from 2015 – 2018. It was established that international migrants are still a few of the world's population, of just 3.1%. Likewise, the labour movement is predominantly from underdeveloped countries and areas to more developed countries. Internationally, nationally, and regionally, there is a balance between the supply and demand for workers. However, the hidden benefits of migration, namely, the upkeep and eventual strengthening of links between migrants and their countries of origin (i.e., their countries of birth) economically and socially might be more important.