Nigeria’s unemployment monster

For many decades, unemployment has remained a major problem that Nigerians are faced with. Most people have no jobs, including graduates from tertiary institutions of learning. Nigeria which is the biggest black nation ought to have a very strong economy capable of employing almost all of its employable citizens. It is a country that is blessed with a lot of resources; unfortunately, these have not been put to good use. The unemployment rate in Nigeria is alarming; it gets worse by the day despite the several promises made by past and current governments.

The causes of unemployment in Nigeria are corruption among government officials, religious/ethnic sentiments, lack of government establishment expansion, retirement policies, unfavourable environment for entrepreneurship, population explosion, negligence of agriculture and other natural resources, lack of skills, poor quality of education, tribalism and nepotism, ignorance, poverty, epileptic electricity supply, undeveloped government sectors and many other reasons.

In tackling these, government should provide vocational schools and also introduce welfare packages for the unemployed rather than wasting existing resources. Corrupt leaders should be dealt with accordingly so as to deter others; the problem of epileptic power supply should be tackled so as to meet rising energy needs of businesses. Improving the standard of education to international level should be of national importance; cutting interest rates to boost aggregate demand should be prioritised; taxes should be cut. We must encourage more flexible labour markets to make it easier to hire workers.  All government levels should work to eliminate insecurity in the country; this will encourage local and foreign investors.

Okon Esther Adiara,

okonesther186@gmail.com