Hospitality Business In Nigeria: A Diverse Panacea For Youth Employment And Development -By Adeleke Azeez Olalekan

The youth population is the major human capital hub of every nation’s present and future. The rate at which youth development project is being taken seriously in a society is a yardstick as to the level at which the society is concerned about the quality of its future. Youth is a period of change from the reliance of childhood to adulthood’s freedom and being aware of the need to work with other members of the society to help achieve the aims and objectives of the society (United Nations Youth, 2019).

In every society, youthfulness is very important. The roles of youths are very many as they include maintenance of law and order, preservation of societal culture, promoting knowledge, partaking in communal politics, developing projects, participating in cultural festivals, involving in local sports events, amongst others (Raymond & Austin, 2020). The cause as to developing Nigerian youths in core areas has been a serious, if not a herculean task. As a matter of reality, it’s a common national concern and one of the major objectives of every government of the federation, state and local. Eugene & Eme (2014) posit that one of the greatest challenges facing governments and policy makers in Africa today is how to provide opportunities for the continent’s more than 200 million youths so that they can have decent lives and contribute to the economic development of their countries.  Underdeveloped youth population in a country will result to various social vices such as insecurity, illiteracy, high rate of unemployment, crime, kidnapping, social stagnation, and to a large extent, an undeveloped nation as the consequences of an underdeveloped youth population directly affects the entire country’s population. Eugene et al (2014) submit that despite the elevated awareness of the challenges confronting Nigerian and Africa’s youths noted by previous studies, several African countries like ours still do not seem to have developed comprehensive and effective policies to deal with the issues facing this large and growing segment of the African population or to have in place a means to assess the progress made.

Several efforts have been made by Nigerian government, corporate organizations, international bodies and reputable individuals in the society to aid the developments of youths in Nigeria. This is evident in programmes tailored towards youths’ development, business grant for youths, empowerment programmes, scholarships, among many others. However, these efforts are channeled towards areas such as Education, Health, Agriculture, Poverty Alleviation, Technology, Participation in Political activities, Employment, among other core areas while Hospitality industry being a labor intensive industry with great economic potentials. This piece of work intends to draw the attention of the critical stakeholders in Nigerian youths’ development and the general public to a critical and fast-growing hospitality business in the country and how it can develop a large part of the youth population in Nigeria.

Hospitality industry encompasses a wide range of businesses that render services to customers. The industry is concerned with provision of service in areas such as Entertainment and Recreation, Travel and Tourism, Event Planning and Food and Drink service. The hospitality business is peculiar among a sub-sector of hospitality, catering and tourism that includes fast food outlets, clubs, snack bars, guest houses, banquet halls and event tents, among others (ILO, 2010).

The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that the hospitality industry accounts for 10 percent of global GDP and provides 1 in 10 jobs worldwide. This suggests that one in 10 workers in Nigeria is directly or indirectly employed in the hospitality industry. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) also projected that between 2019 and 2023, Nigeria is expected to be the fastest-growing hospitality market with a projected 12 percent compound annual increase. (Moyo, 2022).

Hospitality business is fast thriving in Nigeria and provides various job opportunities for the graduate and non-graduate youths and Nigerians at large spread across waiting job opportunities, security, receptionist, ushering service, event hall management, hotel attendants, catering service, drinks service, music, dance and comedy, travel consultancy service, among many other job opportunities provided in the hospitality industry.

According to National Bureau of Statistics (2018), tourism sector accounted for 34 percent of GDP and about 20 percent of the nation’s employment creation in 2017. These revelations are testaments to the fact that the hospitality industry does not only generate revenue to the country’s GDP but create numerous employment opportunities for the Nigerian masses across its diverse areas. Thus, if the potentials of hospitality business are fully utilized in Nigeria, there is a great possibility that it can drastically strengthen and improve the task of youths’ development in all areas such as employment, skill acquisition, increased standard of living, personal development, wealth creation, mental and health stabilities, among others. Additionally, the utilization of the full potentials of hospitality business in Nigeria will significantly reflect on the nations’ employment status, level of security, economy status, crime rate and at large the image of the country in the global space.

Having established the great importance of hospitality business in Nigeria on youths’ development, the following recommendations are put forward:

1. Government at all levels; Federal, State and Local should set aside an Hospitality Trust Fund in their respective capacities tailored towards financially supporting Nigerian youths who are willing to venture into the business or need to expand their existing hospitality businesses
2. Successful stakeholders in the hospitality industry, as part of community service should initiate a charitable foundation that can help the youths in the areas of empowerment, financial support and mentorship in running a successful hospitality business in Nigeria
3. Financial institutions, both local and international as well as other non-government organizations should channel more attention towards hospitality business and provide adequate support system for youths in the industry
4. Government policies in terms of taxations, market access policy and required certifications for business operations in the hospitality industry should be friendly and made easy to attract more youths into the business

ADELEKE Azeez Olalekan

Managing Director, Klassic Chillz

adelekeolalekan2000@yahoo.com