In Nigeria, the unemployment rate rose to 23.1% in the third quarter of 2018, against 18.1% a year earlier, representing a 5% rise within a year, according to figures published on December 19, 2018, by the national bureau of statistics.

"As of Q3 2018, the calculated unemployment rate was 23.1 percent, the underemployment rate was 20.1 percent, and the combined unemployment and underemployment rate was 43.3 percent", the bureau informed.  

"While the Q3, 2018 results show a rise in the rate of unemployment, it also depicts a slowing down in the rate of increase in unemployment, which is usually the first sign of improvement in reducing unemployment", the bureau added.

At less than two months before the presidential election, the country’s economy is the public subject being discussed there.

Muhammadu Buhari who focused his campaign on the relaunch of the economy during the 2015 elections saw his term being waned in 2016 by the first recession experienced by Nigeria in a quarter century.  

Atiku Abubakar, the main candidate of the opposition for the coming election, promised to get the economy back on track and double the country’s GDP by 2025.