Areport by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose by 3.3 million in the third quarter of 2018. It rose from 17.6 million in the same quarter in 2017 to 20.9 million in 2018. This is a 19 per cent increase in one year. The report put the unemployment rate at 23.1 per cent, while noting that the “unemployment rate in Nigeria has been on the increase since the economic crisis that started in 2014. Youth unemployment rate averaged 23.63 per cent from 2014 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 38 per cent in the second quarter of 2018.
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In 2017, Nigeria emerged as the country with the third highest unemployment rate in the world, following South Africa and Greece in the dismal performance on this socioeconomic statistics. This year, it ranked 157th out of 157 countries, according to the latest Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) index, a global ranking of governments based on what they are doing to address the gap between the rich and the poor. According to the report by Oxfam, “Nigeria remains at the bottom of the CRI Index, failing the poorest people, despite its president claiming to care about inequality.” Similarly, at the end of May 2018, the Brookings Institution estimated that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million, showing that extreme poverty in Nigeria is on the increase, with six people falling into it every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall. With this performance, Nigeria became the poverty capital of the world, showing signs of remaining so for a long time to come. In general, therefore, Nigeria demonstrates the characteristics of a collapsing economy: rising unemployment, widening inequality and increasing poverty.
More than half of the Nigerian population grapples with extreme poverty, while the few elite enjoy ever-growing wealth. This tragedy did not happen by chance. It is the consequence of failure to “pass and put into practice, policies that will narrow the gap between the ultra-rich and the poor,” manage resources efficiently and equitably, and reduce the high cost of governance that panders to vested interests at the expense of ordinary citizens. In other words, this tragedy did not happen because of a lack of resources. It is the result of practices that promote the deliberate misuse, misallocation and misappropriation of public resources and the general disregard for the daily struggles of average Nigerians.
The situation is not just immoral and unacceptable; it is intolerable and threatens the unity, peace and stability of the country. It is therefore not in the long term interest of those who currently benefit from the policies and practices that perpetuate the situation. Such level of unemployment, poverty and inequality can only create a vicious cycle in which Nigerians would not be able to achieve their productive potential as human beings. Ordinary citizens will not be able to contribute to production in an effective and efficient manner, and as poverty puts the majority of them in ignorance and disease, the economy collapses. The deadly triad of poverty, unemployment and economic inequality is a catalyst for social tensions in any society. This generates frustration and hopelessness, leading to desperation that manifests in crime and violence in various forms.
We bring to the attention of the elite, especially leaders of the various levels of government, politicians, civil society and policy actors, the urgency of the situation and the imperative of taking measures to reverse it. Measures must be taken to ensure that public resources are collected and spent in a fair and efficient manner. This means that the government must pay attention to reducing inequality by taxing the rich, reducing the cost of governance, specifically the salaries and allowances of political office-holders, and curbing corruption. The government should address tax practices that punish the poor or the resourceful, grant the rich waivers or allow them to avoid tax. This is necessary to free funds for the provision of services and infrastructure that can increase access to basic services for the majority of the population. The share of the government budget allocated to education, health and social protection, which is one of the lowest in the world, must be increased. The government must provide support for small and medium scale enterprises as major sources of employment and livelihood for the ordinary citizen. Government must consciously promote youth employment and empowerment, giving special attention to gender disparity.
The current state of affairs that panders to vested interests and allows a few to smile to the bank through sheer stealing of public funds does not support creativity and innovation and the quest for the diversification of the economy away from oil. Instead, it has weakened the state and economy and undermined economic dynamism and productivity. The consequences of the triad of unemployment, inequality and poverty have manifested in the increase in crime and social conflict that makes the life of the rich needlessly precarious in the country. It is therefore in their enlightened self-interest to ensure that the country works for the poor as well.
and then