Healthcare, tech and agriculture lead job preferences across Nigeria's six zones
By Aboki Forex —
SBM Intelligence has found that healthcare, technology and agriculture are the sectors Nigerians want most across the country's six geopolitical zones, with preferences varying sharply by region. The findings point to six distinct labour market economies rather than a single national employment crisis.
The August 2026 report, titled “Six Zones, One Crisis: What Nigerians say about jobs, skills and the risk of leaving,” is based on a nationwide survey of 1,180 respondents across 21 cities. Nationally, technology ranked first with 14.4%, followed by agriculture at 13.2%, healthcare at 12.7%, manufacturing at 11.0%, and trade at 10.9%.
What the data is saying
Across the zones, Nigerians want different jobs, reflecting each region's productive strengths, economic constraints and opportunities. SBM Intelligence argued that Nigeria's labour market is fundamentally regionalised.
In the Southeast, healthcare emerged as the most urgently needed sector at 17.8%, ahead of technology (13.3%) and manufacturing (13.0%). In the Southwest, technology led with 16.6%, narrowly ahead of healthcare (15.4%) and education (15.1%). The South-South ranked manufacturing first at 15.7%, followed by technology (15.0%) and trade (12.0%).
The Northwest showed the clearest preference for agriculture, which ranked first at 22.6%, well ahead of healthcare (14.8%) and technology (14.4%). In the Northeast, agriculture also ranked first at 14.2%, with trade (10.2%) and healthcare (10.1%) following closely behind. The Northcentral was led by technology (18.1%), followed by trade (15.0%) and healthcare (9.7%), though the report cautioned that the zone's sample was heavily concentrated in Abuja and should not be treated as representative of the entire region.
SBM Intelligence noted that these preferences are not random. They reflect each zone's productive base, deficits and aspirations. A region asking for healthcare is signalling weak medical infrastructure, while a region prioritising manufacturing is signalling industrial decline. The report also found that priorities shift sharply between urban and rural communities.
What blocks work, and why the young leave
Beyond job preferences, the report found that the obstacles preventing Nigerians from finding work differ sharply across regions. Nationally, the biggest barriers were low pay (19.2%), lack of skills (17.5%), limited access to capital and credit (16.4%), lack of available jobs (15.2%), and poor infrastructure (8.9%).
In the Southeast, the dominant problem was low pay (24.8%), followed by an absolute shortage of jobs (20.9%). The report concluded that the zone has a pay problem as much as a job problem, with many educated people forced into small-scale entrepreneurship because formal employment opportunities remain limited.
The Northwest and Northeast were defined primarily by skills deficits, with 26.8% of respondents in the Northwest and 22.9% in the Northeast identifying inadequate skills and vocational training as the biggest barrier. Insecurity was significant in the Northeast but was not the dominant constraint. In the Southwest, respondents were more concerned about poor infrastructure (21.0%) and limited access to capital (20.0%), suggesting that power, transport and financing constraints are restricting business expansion and job creation.
What it means for the economy
The findings come shortly after another SBM Intelligence report identified the 15 highest-paying healthcare jobs in Nigeria, reinforcing why healthcare emerged as a leading employment priority in parts of the country. That report found that surgeons earn between N11 million and N17.8 million annually, cardiologists about N15.8 million, anesthesiologists around N12.3 million, medical doctors about N10.3 million, and psychiatrists roughly N10.2 million per year.
The regional pattern broadly mirrors Nigeria's economic geography. Northern Nigeria remains the country's major food-producing belt, while the Southeast's manufacturing ranking reflects industrial clusters around Aba, Nnewi and Onitsha, where leather, textiles, plastics, auto parts, footwear, bags and other manufactured goods are produced and traded across West Africa. For investors and policymakers, these preferences signal where job creation efforts and infrastructure spending are likely to have the most impact, and where naira-denominated investment in healthcare, agriculture and technology could yield the strongest returns.