Every society across the globe has its peculiar problem and challenges, Nigeria is not an exception. As a developing country, she faces her own share of social, political, economic and cultural problems, which have, in no small measure, affected the well-being of the populace. Among the problems bedeviling the country is youth unemployment, which has serious implications for national development. Unemployment rate in Nigeria has continued to be on the increase despite the abundant human and natural resources available in the country.
In a nutshell, chronic youth unemployment is evident in Nigeria. Every year, thousands of graduates are produced but there are no jobs for majority of them. Nigerian streets are littered with youth hawkers who ordinarily would have found gainful employment in some organisations/government parastatals/ or rather be self-employed with initial seed capital from government or finance houses.
Reducing youth unemployment through entrepreneurship
It is rather unfortunate that the number of graduates being churned out every year are more than the available jobs in both the private and public sectors, not minding the fact that some of these graduates are unemployable. Even if government creates jobs, how will it be funded? Already, in majority of government agencies, there has been clamour for downsizing of staff because of overbloated staff strength. Private organisations are cutting jobs every day to meet up with the economic challenges facing the country.
The question that needs to be answered is where do we go from here? Youth unemployment will continue to grow unless we turn job seekers to job creators and this is why we need all stakeholders to join hands to reduce the unemployment rate in the country. Our higher institutions should endeavour to produce employable graduate as well as those that can create jobs in order to compete favourably with their counterparts around the world. We should go back to technical education and encourage farming. There are so many arable lands across the federation readily available for farming and I urge the government facilitate these land for people to farm.
Finally, youths should think of what they can do on their own that could fetch them income. Though it is not that easy because there will be ups and down, failure and discouragement, but if they can focus on their businesses, it will yield out positively with patience, perseverance, commitment and dedication. Government should also endeavor to increase the mode of empowering entrepreneurs and reducing the mode of taxation.
Babalola Esther Ifeoluwa, Oyo State
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