Abuja Job & Career Fair 2026 Connects Talents With Employers, Advances Inclusive Access to Employment

The Fair brings together government, employers and development partners to expand employment opportunities, strengthen workforce readiness and promote inclusive hiring.

The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment (FMLE), with the support of the Mastercard Foundation in partnership with Jobberman Nigeria and the GIZ SEDEC Cluster, has convened the Abuja Job & Career Fair 2026 to strengthen connections between talents and employers, improve workforce readiness and expand access to employment opportunities.

Held under the theme ‘Opportunities, Connections and Impact,’ the Fair features employer engagements, career counselling, CV reviews and training sessions on employability and skills development, with a focus on expanding access for women, persons with disabilities and other underserved groups.

“The Abuja Job & Career Fair is about more than bringing talents and employers into one space. It is about creating connections that lead to employment and giving participants a clearer pathway to dignified and fulfilling work,” said the Country Head of Programmes at Jobberman Nigeria, Olamide Adeyeye.

She noted that physical career fairs remain vital, as many young people still face barriers to online opportunities, adding that more than 150,000 people secured jobs through job fairs, career events and job centres in the past year.

Opening the Fair, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi**,** pledged to expand access to jobs through public job centres and the National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX), the ministry’s digital job-matching platform.

He identified skills mismatches and weak links between job seekers and employers as key challenges and urged employers to look beyond academic qualifications.

Delivering a goodwill message on behalf of Dr Markus Wagner, Country Director, GIZ Nigeria and ECOWAS, Oladoyin Olawaiye noted that GIZ and the ministry have established 11 job centres across five states under the Skills Development for Youth Programme, serving over 65,000 people, more than half of them women.

For participant Victory Izevbizua, the Fair delivered on both fronts. She came hoping to meet employers in Customer Service and Data Analytics and met several, but her highlight was a Jobberman career counselling session, where a counsellor reviewed her CV and gave her clear, actionable advice on tailoring it for different roles.

“The job seekers I have met here are innovative, willing to work and enthusiastic about what they do. With talents like these, we believe we can change the narrative of healthcare in Nigeria,” said Anomiri Chidozie-Pascal, Founder and CEO of Big Panda Medicare (PandaCare), which is recruiting for administrative, public health, data analysis, social media and digital marketing roles.

The Fair is supported by the Mastercard Foundation, through its Young Africa Works Programme, and international development partners, including the European Union (EU), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.