Opinions

Youths unemployment: A time bomb

THE expectation of any graduate after school is to secure a well-paying job after the conclusion of his or her studies, but the reality in Nigeria labour sector has proven otherwise as there is no meaningful job anywhere after the mandatory National Youth Services Corps (NYSC) programme. In fact, recently, President Muhammadu Buhari boldly said that the Federal Government had no job vacancies for graduates. He added that university degrees were no longer a guarantee of jobs in the country. Probably that’s one of the hidden reasons the six-month-old FG/ASUU strike is not given much attention like the coming 2023 general election. Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” But here, our government doesn’t see that. All it sees is politics. Education is not taken seriously and there is no job for those that eventually graduate. This is a big time bomb behind insecurity in the county. What a country!

But back in the early 70s, fresh university and polytechnic graduates, even graduates of teachers’ colleges, had jobs waiting for them ranging from clerical to professional jobs based on their areas of specialisation. Despite the fact that the country had all this kind of system of government before then, what changed the fate of the Nigeria graduate and how does it link up to the present issues and challenges faced by the government, especially in the area of insecurity? Unemployment is a situation whereby persons capable and willing to work are unable to find suitable paid employment. Unemployment is one of the major problems in Nigeria because it has caused so many issues like insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and other related acts. Unemployment has become the major issue in Nigeria. During the last recession experienced in the country, many lost their jobs. Many graduates after five or seven years of graduation still roam the streets waiting for paid employments that are not there. The North is being ravaged by insurgency, the genesis is unemployment in the land whereby the youth could no more fathom the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Akwa Ibom is reported to have the highest unemployment rate ( 37.7 per cent) in third quarter of 2018. NBS said this in its “Labour Force Statistics – Volume 2: Unemployment and Underemployment by State” for the Third Quarter of 2018, posted on its website. The bureau said that Rivers has the second highest reported unemployment rate with 36.4 per cent followed by Bayelsa with 32.6 per cent. Also, Abia recorded 31.6 per cent and Borno reported 31.4 per cent unemployment rate in the quarter under review. The report said the top five states with the highest unemployed population were Rivers (1,673,991), Akwa Ibom (1,357,754), Kano (1,257,130), Lagos (1,088,352) and Kaduna with (940,480). It said among these five states with the highest unemployed population, Lagos state reported the lowest rate of 14.6 per cent during the quarter. Meanwhile, the bureau said Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna and Yobe States recorded the highest underemployment rates of 39.5, 38.1, 31.0 and 30.0 per cent. It said the national unemployment rate for the quarter was 23.1 per cent while the underemployment rate was 20.1 per cent.

The report said between third quarter, 2017 and third quarter of 2018, only nine states recorded a reduction in their unemployment rates despite an increase in the national unemployment rate. The states included Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ondo and Rivers; the same states recorded reduction in their combined unemployment and underemployment rates. The report said six states recorded the highest gains in net full time employment between third quarters, 2017 and second quarter, 2018. The states were Lagos adding 740,146 net full time jobs, Rivers (235,438), Imo (197,147), Ondo (142,514), Enugu (122,333), Kaduna with 118,929 jobs. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recent econometric model projection, in the long-term, the Nigeria Youth Unemployment Rate is projected to trend around 53.00 percent in 2022 and 51.00 percent in 2023,

In all states, the statistics on unemployment are scary, alarming. No wonder, crimes are on the increase in Nigeria, young boys and girls are into yahoo yahoo and prostitution. Go to any hotel, recreation centres, joints in the country, prostitution is the order of the day. However, there is a saying that every disease has its own cure; likewise, every problem has its own solution. Fortunately, this unemployment situation in Nigeria is not without a solution, one of which is that the government should put more effort into fighting corruption at all levels, both in the private and public sector. Also, planning, especially for the younger generation is very important. How do we get into this mess? The truth is that a country that fails to deal plan will not but be confronted with crisis. Governments don’t have proper planning for the youth of this country. Those who are graduates are roaming the streets looking for jobs that are not there. People could not sleep with two eyes closed. It is high time government at all levels put on their thinking caps on before things get out of hand. Think about this: That your sons and daughters will pass out of tertiary institutions and there is no job waiting for them shows the insensitivity of those in government to stem the ongoing violence in the country.

How would you feel if you see someone you have expended your life savings on roaming the streets or doing nothing? Those in power know how to create opportunities for their children despite many of them coming out with poor degrees. See the crimes going on in the country; they are the result of unemployment. If the youth are gainfully employed, crimes will be reduced drastically. It is high time government at all levels explored agriculture. This is still the largest sector that can employ more youths in the country. Government should stop playing lip service to this sector. The emergence of oil in Nigeria contributed a lot to the demise of agriculture in the land. Those governing us prefer to go to Abuja every month to collect allocations and share them.

Oloko writes in via blackoloko@yahoo.com

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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”

He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.

“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.

According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”

“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.

The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”

“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.

“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.

“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.

Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.

“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.

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Afolabi Oloko