Nigeria, Feb. 9 -- Nigeria will need to create 5 million jobs annually for the next 10 years to cover its unemployment gap, the International Monetary Fund has said.

In a report Monday, the lender said creating that number of jobs will absorb the country's projected 54 million new entrants in the labour force over the next decade.

The Fund also said the nation needs to embrace more open trade and good policies to rejuvenate growth.

Nigeria's unemployment rate rose to 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, increasing from 23.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2018.

The unemployment rate has continued to increase over a decade.

The dire unemployment situation, which some believe is more severe than reported, has been made worse b...