Unemployment in Nigeria and how it can be curbed by the Federal Government (Views of a concerned Citizen)
by:
IFEDIGBO OKWUCHUKWU

Every youngster will always have dreams, aspirations of being a fulfilled person in wherever he hopes to be in the nearest future and therefore, for this sole reason, he follows his dream sequentially by first bagging his first school leaving certificate, and unto the next one, the WASSCE before facing the 'Almighty' JAMB and finally, succeeding in getting admitted into the University and doing all he can to graduate with a second class honours whether upper or lower. At this point, the person begings to come to the realities of life that not only are his higher peers back in school unemployed, but they still go around dressed in corperate as if they are always serving as 'best man' for every wedding event happening around, but the truth is that they are submitting countless C.Vs and such people always stay abreast of the recent trends in putting up a good C.V but they always end up being dropped at interviews. Rewinding back to our persona, He prepares for his one year compulsory service (service to the fatherland) and during his service year, he begins to sbumit different applications, attends job interviews, visits several job hunting sites to submit his C.V and applications. This continues beyond his service year, yet his efforts will seem futile. At this point, he would have no other choice than to finally adjust to the realities of the 'unemployed Nigerian youths' just as his higher peers back den when he was still in school.

In this piece of writting, I will be discussing certain issues bothering around unemployment and how it can be curbed by the government, my next piece will be about unemployment being curbed by the individual himself.

Unemployment Rate in Nigeria increased to 7.50 percent in the first quarter of 2015 from 6.40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. Unemployment rate in Nigeria is reported by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria. The level of unemployment in Nigeria today is very high and this has contributed to an increase in the level of frustration and high rate crimes in the country but there are certain policies the government can embark on to bring this increasing unemployment rate to a halt. (Note: This is not a research topic therefore, the following reasons are not exhaustive but are intended to provide a possible panacea to the problem of unemployment)
1. Restructuring of the NYSC programme: These recent times have witnessed several rumours of the NYSC programmes being scrapped out entirely by the government and being made optional for graduates, I must say that scrapping out the programme entirely or making it compulsory will not drive the boat of the young graduates to the promise land, I recommend that there should be a total and complete restructuring
of the scheme in the sense that the camping period be increased from three weeks to two months with better facilities for sustenance of life in every camp, that the normal camping activities, education, sensitization, social activities, drills and military trainings should continue but the Skills Acquistion and Entrepreneurship Development Programme (SAED) should be made more effective. The very essence of the two months camping, should be to ensure that every corp member learns a particular skill effectively and instead of being posted to Places of Primary Assignments(PPA) they should be paid there accumulated 'Allawee' for the year at once, to go and invest in any skill which they have learnt during the two months camping. With that, the corp member starts up a business of his own and with a little time, he becomes an employer of labour instead of wasting time submitting C.Vs and all that. Being someone that has completed his one year compulsory service, I must say that the treatments meted out by the host communities where these corp members find themselves are really dehumanizing, such treatments come in the form of, lack of accomodation or high cost of getting one, high cost of living which reduces savings, unfriendly gestures by the villagers.

2. Government should encourage small and medium scale enterprises: The investments made by private individuals in business enterprises contribute so much to the growth of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The Government should provide more funds and easy loans to support these SMEs. The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can empower the youths who work in those companies. According to Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Small and Medium Enterprises manufacture more than 90 per cent of the products used in Nigeria. This shows that they play important role in the country. The Government should reduce the huge amount of charge on SMEs so that they can enlarge their coast. With SMEs, the government can be rest assured that there would be a reduction in the importation of contra-band goods into the country.
The economic policy in vogue is import Substitution which means
that one could substitute importation with local production without taking due cognizance of the local availability of the raw materials.

3. The Education sector should be revamped towards producing more proficient graduates: The turn out of graduates yearly from institutions of higher learning is on the increase, but sadly, a handfull of these graduates are not fully trained to meet with the demands of the employers of labour. This is characterized by poor academic standards in our tertiary institutions. In the light of this, am calling for a total check in the academic system in Nigeria. The government through NUC, NBTE and other academic agencies should embark on a serious check on the standards of these tertiary institutions by ensuring that the set standards are met and the system of checks and balances are maintaned. Most times, these half baked graduates go for interviews and end up disgracing not only thmeselves but also their alma mater. I do have a friend who graduated two years ago from a Federal University in Nigeria, he went for different interviews but always ended up being rejected, the one that broke the camel's back was wen one of the interviewers told him pomp and plain to go and retake JAMB and start afresh, You can imagine such embarrasment on a 'graduate'.

4. Retiring the old and creating room for the young: One of the things that cause unemployment in Nigeria, is that the old ones occupying different postions of which their retirement has been long overdue, refuse to retire. Many of them are even too old that they can not trek a distance for upto 20 minutes, You now begin to wonder how these group of people will be able to carry out there duties efficiently and effectively. In order to check on these stubborn old group of workers, an active government agency should be set to investigate in different workplaces so as to fish-out the old ones who build empires and refuse to leave the positions for the younger ones to take charge. When such agencies work hard, more employment opportunities will be created for citizens of the younger generations. We are tired of clamouring that the youths are leaders of tomorrow, yet the government keeps retaining and appointing the old ones who have been in active service for years into top government postions, In all the appointments made by Mr. President, none of the appointees is below the age of 40. This is really sad for the younger generations because there is no encouragement, no motivation and no hope.

5. Tackling corruption in the public and Civil service: Corruption has always been a cog in the wheel for a country's struggle for development, therefore, in ensuring that square pegs are not put into round holes, the government should use every tool at its disposal to combat corruption and to bring it to a halt. The level of corruption in the public service sector cannot be over emphasized, from embezzlement of funds, to the enthronement of mediocrity at d expense of meritocracy, to nepotism in employment and political appointments, all thse have contributed to the slow pace of economic development in Nigeria thereby leading to a high rate of unemployment in the country. It is on this note that I must congratulate Mr. President for his progress so far in battling corruption in the recent times and making sure that no table is left unturned in the battle. I hope and pray that this good work be extended to the civil service, so that employment will no longer be based on connection, ethnicism, nepotism but by merit and readiness to work.

6. Industrial Development: The government should encourage the development of industries in the country both by foreigners and citizens of the country, some of these industries end up employing massively at every point in time, a good case in hand is the Dangote group of companies that recently advertised for job vacancies for massive recruitments. The government should play a dominant role here by ensuring that the required environment necessary for these industries to function is being provided for example security, electricity and a favourable fiscal policy. Most foreign expartriates are scared of coming to Nigeria to invest for the fear of being kidnapped sequel to this, is the issue of electricity. The erratic power supply in the country is taking a heavy toll on mobile telecoms companies as they spend an average of N3.625bn monthly on diesel to fuel their 20,000 generators. The generators are installed in 15,000 cell sites across the nation. The condition of electricity is seeing an improvement but needs to be tackled fully.

I am forced to drop my pen at this point as I always say that my pen is to me, what the sword is to the gladiator.

Great write up, really amazing and inspiring, I pray that PMB will see this and do something about it immediately.


I recommend to First Page, please lalasticlala and ishilove do the needful

too much grammar govt should allow states and private to provide power power = factories factories = jobs and need for input input = more jobs

mikolo80:
too much grammar govt should allow states and private to provide power power = factories factories = jobs and need for input input = more jobs

Funny but true

On Point