The number of Nigerians currently unemployed has been put at over 90 million. This is according to recent report released by London-based Business Monitor International.
According to the report, around two thirds of the labour force works in agriculture with the remaining two thirds divided between services and industry. Unemployment, the report reveals, grows at around 3.0 per cent, although many of the people said to be employed "are underemployed, work in the informal sector or in very low paid jobs", the report said.  The report, an expert country risk analysis and macroeconomic forecast on Nigeria showed that lack of funding has severely damaged the educational and health systems, reducing the number of skilled and healthy workforce. Furthermore, because a large proportion of the workforce is employed in the informal sector, the report says, substantial training is needed for formal employment. "A national minimum wage exists at around N5, 000, but does not provide a living wage".
The report also has it that enforcement of the provision of the labour laws as well as health and safety practices can be lax. It noted that the law prohibits the employment of children under 15 years old in the commercial and industrial sectors, child labour is widespread in agriculture and informal sectors. Less than 10 per cent of the workforce is organized, the report added. "The agricultural sector is mainly non-unionized, which is also the case with small companies and in the informal sector".
The two largest union bodies, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, say union membership totals around 7.million. The law allows collective bargaining, but this is limited, especially in the private sector.