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THE CRISIS OF UNEMPLOYMENT
All the stakeholders should do more to ease the scourge of joblessness
In its 2024 last quarter report published last September, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) bemoaned the fact that unemployment rate stood at 5.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, representing a third consecutive increase since the second quarter of 2023. “Consequently, Nigeria’s misery index – the sum of unemployment and inflation rates – rose to 36.9 per cent in 2024Q1 from 30.5 per cent in 2023Q3,” according to the report. “Nigeria has one of the world’s highest misery indexes, with many Nigerians experiencing a cost-of-living crisis and weak purchasing power due to rising inflation.”
Indeed, one of the issues that should task authorities in Nigeria is the growing unemployment, especially among young people. Unfortunately, the crisis of unemployment has led to the creation of bubble jobs as political office holders appoint thousands of special assistants with no job schedules. The crisis has also engendered a prevalence of bribery and job racketeering, particularly in the country’s public service. Today, recruitment of civil servants and public officers is fraught with corruption, especially since public institutions have stopped advertising for jobs and vacancies as syndicates make applicants to pay scandalous amounts of money. A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), for instance, observed that 32 per cent Nigerians who secured jobs in the nation’s public service in 2019 paid a bribe. It is therefore no surprise that we have a civil/public service that seems incapable of meeting the expectations of citizens both in terms of basic needs as well as institutional transformation.
The World Bank has in recent years warned that Nigeria is currently undergoing the worst unemployment crisis in its history. Three years ago, it authored a report, ‘Of Roads Less Travelled: Assessing the Potential for Migration to Provide Overseas Jobs for Nigeria’s Youth’. The report particularly raised the alarm over the nation’s expanding working-age population combined with scarce domestic employment opportunities amid dwindling resources. This, according to the report, was creating high rates of unemployment, especially for the growing youth population. A combination of rising unemployment, booming demography, and unfulfilled aspirations, according to the World Bank result in increasing pressure on young Nigerians to migrate in search of gainful employment overseas.
When these are juxtaposed against the background that there has been an 80 per cent drop in foreign direct investment, it is obvious that we have a serious challenge on our hands. The high rate of out-of-school children and poor output in the education sector also contribute to deepening the challenge of unemployment as the nation continues to churn out a crop of uncompetitive youth in a world driven by technology. Although some governors have established skill acquisition centres by which young people can undergo vocational training, the emphasis seems to be political.
President Bola Tinubu has blamed the high unemployment rate in the country on a rapidly growing population that has outpaced the creation of sufficient job opportunities. “For too long, Nigeria has underperformed, unable to harness the potential of its large population of hardworking citizens. Nigerians are not lazy; the problem has been a lack of job opportunities. As the population grew, service providers did not expand proportionately,” said the president. “The steps we are taking now should have been taken long ago. People should have been incentivised to establish small and medium enterprises instead of seeking opportunities abroad.” Last December, while speaking to a gathering of MSME stakeholders,
the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, promised that the federal government would soon launch the national youth unemployment benefits scheme.
We hope the federal government and authorities in the 36 states will work together to address the unemployment crisis in Nigeria.