Nkwachukwu - My Blog

INTRODUCTION.


The population of Nigeria is divided into two categories;
The economically active and the economically inactive. The economically active population (labor force) or working population refers to the population that is willing and able to work, including those actively engaged in the production of goods and services (employed) and those who are unemployed.
Whereas, unemployed refers to people who are willing and a capable of work but are unable to find suitable paid employment.
The next category, the economically inactive population refers to people who are neither working nor cooking for jobs. Examples include housewives, full time student, invalids- those below the legal age for work, old and retired persons.
The unemployed rate is expressed as a p-percentage of the total number of person’s available for unemployment at any time.
Unemployment is a problem that each each society must find a way to beat it.
Unemployment is one of the development problems that face every developing economy in the 21 century.



3. THE HISTORY OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA.






According to the Central Bank of Nigerian (2003) the national unemployment rate, rose from 4.3 percent in 1970 to 6.4 percent in 1980. The high rate of unemployment observed in 1980 was attributed largely to depression in the Nigerian economy during the late 19670s.
Specifically, the economic downturn led to the implementation of stabilization measures which included restriction on exports, which caused import dependency of most Nigerian manufacturing enterprises, which in turn resulted in operation of many companies below their installed capacity.
This development led to the close down of many industries, while the survived few were forced to retrench a large proportion of their workforce; furthermore, the Nigerian government also placed an embargo on employment.
Specifically, total disengagement from the Federal Civil Service rose from 2,724 in 1980-6,294 in 1984. Owing to this, the national unemployment rate fluctuated around 6.0% until 1987 when it rose to 7.1%. It is important to state here, that the structural adjustment programmed (SAP) adopted in 1986, had serious implications on employment in Nigeria, as unemployment rate declined from 7.1% in 1987, to as low as 1.8% in 1995, after which it rose to 3.4% in 1996, and hovered between 3.4 and 4.7 % between 1996 and 2000.
According to a 1974 survey reported by Aigbokham (2000) graduate unemployment account for less than 1 percent of the unemployed, in 1974, by 1984, the proportion rose to 4 percent for urban areas and 2.2% in the rural areas.
Graduate unemployment, accounted about 32% of the unemployed labor force between 1992 and 1997. It is impressive to note here that, in 2003, Nigerian’s unemployment rate declined substantially to 2.3 percent.
This decline was attributed to the various government effort aimed at addressing the problems through poverty alleviation programmes.
Recently, the federal government accepted World Bank’s figure of 40 million 28.57 percent unemployed people in Nigeria. Though there were no details of how the bank arrived at that figure, the admission by the ex minister of labor, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode that we do have such an unemployment crisis is enough to give credence to the report.
We recall those two years ago, the Federal Government disclosed that about 70 percent of Nigeria population lived below the poverty line, but since then no concrete measures have been taken to address the situation.
Suddenly we are confronted with the statistic that 40 million Nigerians are unemployed.
It is indeed worrisome for a country with a population figure of 140 million (as indicated in the 2006 census report) to have 40 million unemployed.
Nigeria, since the attainment of political independence in 1960 has undergone various fundamental structural changes.
These domestic structural shifts have however not resulted in any significant and sustainable economic growth and development.
The outrageous profits from the oil boom encouraged wasteful expenditures in the public sector dislocation of the employment factor and also distorted the revenue bases for policy planning.
However, these economic and financial structural reforms put in place have not yielded significant results.


4. CAUSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA.



There are many causes for unemployment, and it is vital that we understand them all to be effective in combating this great social evil.
Only by offering solutions to tackle the causes of unemployment can we really solve the problems; treating the symptoms is not enough and will have the same effect as a pain killer: you numb the pain but the problem does not go away and, what is more worrying, painkillers are addictive, and so are solutions for the symptoms as unemployment as opposed to the causes
RECESSIONS: A difficult time when there is a less trade, business activity in the country.
When the economy is not growing, then jobs aren’t being created and unemployment rises
NOT HAVING INFORMATION ON AVAILABLE JOB AND CAREER OPPORTUNITIES: The quality of information at your disposal affects your decisions and opportunities.
What is the sense in having top notch software programming qualifications without information on source of IT job and career opportunities? Job search requires information management- where is the source of information, do you have what it takes to get the information you need in a timely and cost- effective manner?
Are you looking for a fish in the desert? How do you dig for opportunities that match your needs? Lack of information appears to be a major hindrance because we limit ourselves to comfortable, traditional and highly competitive sources.
LACK OF A PERSONAL SUPPORT NETWORK OF FRIENDS, FAMILY, COLLEAGUES, ACQUAINTANCES: It is ironic that this is not seen as one of the top barriers by most even through 85% of opportunities come from personal networking. Could it be that we take our personal networks for granted? Inflated egos tend to ignore the power of people.
If you are searching for opportunity you better realize now that people are your most important resource in any job search.
Job search is more than qualifications and talents. Connecting with people can lead to advice, job leads and referrals.
But we need to network all the time and we must know that association is note enough. No obstacle is insurmountable. The truth is that we must be people- friendly and be honest and creative in our application of knowledge and ethics.
SKILLS: For a graduate to be employed in any company or industry.
He or she needs to acquire a number of skills (ability to do something very well).
If the person does not have the skills for a job, then he or she either gets training or is unable to get that job.
This has forced some employers of labor to reserve spaces for Nigerians with foreign qualifications. This is because our higher institutions are steadily producing graduates whose skills are suspect, thus making it difficult for them to get recruited.
POWER FAILURE: While acknowledging efforts made by previous administration to tackle the problem of unemployment.
I however disagree with the minister for attributing the present statistics to the current global economic meltdown.
Over the years, hundreds of factories that hitherto provided employment to multitude of graduates and artisans (welders, etc) have collapsed in one year, over 100 textiles factories closed shop across the country and the trend continues.
Why? This is because energy supply which serves as the main engine of production has been comatose, thus forcing surviving industries to depend on power generators while the country becomes a dumping ground for all imported items.
Many artisans such as welders, furniture makers, fashion designers, aluminum window fitters, etc who cannot afford power generators are today out of works.
LACK OF WORK EXPERIENCE: This perceived by most, as the major hurdle to getting a job.
To newcomers this makes sense as; job seeker wants experience and employers too want experience”. However, does majority rule? Or are we scared of creativity? For example, hoe many have considered “paying for experience” – getting nothing or less than you deserve for quality job opportunity. You want experience but have you considered creating your own experience- through technology, internships or setting up your own business?
Do you just want to get by or get ahead? Employ radical new thinking and action to overcome barriers erected by lack of work experience
And finally, go beyond the job. There is no tomorrow in any job. Tomorrow belongs to you.
OVER REGULATION: This is an important cause for unemployment.
Too much burden on a business shoulders and that business cannot afford to expand and, with it expansion, to create more jobs. Because of this, if you are unemployed, it will be almost impossible for you to find work, and this will be especially critical for students and for anymore who finds him or herself out of work when they are middle aged.
There is too much paper work involved to do any thing; there are too many regulations that stifle job creation efforts.
There are two few job offers for a demand, a shortage that lead to poverty and chronic unemployment. This means that adding burdens to the economy will not create new jobs. It will, infant make the amount of new jobs being created decrease.




5. EFFECTS OF UNEMPLOYMENT TO NIGERIAN YOUTHS.




Our country is likely to be endowed with diverse and scores of recourses- both human materials.
However, due to gross mismanagement, profligate spending, graft and adverse policies- sometimes misplaced priorities of various governments in Nigeria, these resources have not been optimally utilized on one hand and on the other they have not been adequately channeled to profitable investments to bring about maximum economic benefits.
As a result of these, accumulated problems compounded the already existing problem.
Today our country is faced with the problem of unemployment, poverty and energy crisis, which experts believe are the major causes of the ethnic and religious crisis we see in the North on one hand and Niger- Delta unrest.
Unemployment is a societal problem in any nation. Unemployment accounts for most of the social crimes perpetrated by graduates in the Nigerian society today.
The accelerating level of prostitution ( whereby the woman, while struggling to provide for the household without job, become depressed and resort to ugly trading in prostitution), armed robbery, oil bunkering, internet rats, drug addiction, trafficking, rape, kidnapping and all facets of violence can be largely attributed to the incidence of unemployment.
An examination of most of the apprehended criminals shows that a large number of Nigerian graduates that engage in criminal activities are those without gainful employment.
Some of these criminals are people who have the potentials for gainful employment but have been derived such opportunity. Unemployment then can be seen as one of the core causes of the rising level of social disorder and insecurity permeating the entire country of Nigeria.
There is undisputable evidence that unemployment leads to youth crisis; like the militant in the Niger Delta where there are youth crisis due to unemployment, with huge federal allocation to the oil producing states.
Under conditions of economic crisis, and subsequently structural adjustment, there has been a shift decline in the ability of the state crisis.
Thus, under mass unemployment youth have tended to rely on violence to struggle for access to the state and the resources that it controls, in order to protest exclusion and oppression, as well as to demand basic rights and socio-economic provisioning.
Unemployment leads to brain drain, as many of the resource people trained by Nigeria government and parents have to either leave to Europe, America or Asia to survive the economic hardship in the country. Today many of our best scientist, surgeons and engineers have left the country as a result of lack of job security.


6. TACKLING UNEMPLOYEMNT CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA.



The worst working conditions and lack of opportunities in rural areas have encouraged the youth to migrate to urban centers. But, because most countries have not yet initiated their transition to industrialization, urban centers can not create a massive number of jobs. Thus, in the short term, only rural activities, farm and non-farm, can effectively create occupation for most new job seekers.
Given the challenges faced by the youth in labor markets, success in pursuing employment for young people will require long term, concerted actions, spanning a wide range of policies and programs. Indeed, success will not be achieved and sustained through fragmented and isolated interventions.
An over-arching guideline for addressing the youth employment challenge is the need for an integrated strategy for rural development, growth and job creation – which covers the demand and the supply sides of the labor market and takes into account the youth mobility from rural to urban areas- combined with targeted intervention to help young people overcome disadvantages in entering and remaining in the labor market.
An inventory of intervention designed to integrate young people in the labor market suggests that comprehensive, multiple service approach tend to do better than fragmented interventions.
In Latin America, jovenes program for example, have been widely analyzed as a successful story in assisting young workers in developing countries. They use a demand-driven model that targets economically disadvantaged youth, fosters private sector participation, and promote training providers. It has been successful in improving job placement and earning, but has become particularly expensive for some countries where it has been replaced by smaller and more focused interventions.
Modern agriculture has considerable potential for job and wealth creation and may absorb large numbers of would-be youth migrants or youths who currently crowd the cities with underemployment.
Making well balanced choices for employment-intensive investments in agriculture and rural non farm activities can create immediate short term employment opportunities which can be more easily tapped by young people.
Combined with appropriate local economic development strategies, it can generate more and sustainable jobs. This requires strategies to make agriculture an attractive enough option for youth to engage in, including moving away from subsistence agriculture, and introducing commercialization and productivity improvements through technological changes and infrastructure support.
Investing in rural education will also create better opportunities for people to migrate more successfully and contribute to the economic growth of the cities.
Beside expanding rural job opportunities, it is also necessary to improve the investment and macroeconomic environment; encourage and support entrepreneurship and the informer sector; improve access to education and skills; address the demography issues, including early motherhood; tackle the problem of youth in violent and post conflict setting; and improve the labor market conditions.
Employing ICT to change the World is another means to tackle unemployment in Nigeria.
Having a career mentor is still a means to chase unemployment out from my country. The best mentor are people who are in the field of business you wish to be in- in this way they able to give better and more educated career advice.
You can use a career mentor both when you have a job and when you are looking for one. When you already have the job, they will be able to help you do what you need to advance and take your career to the next level.
When you use a career mentor to help you find a job, they will be able to help you prepare for interviews, as well as look over your resume. This is different from having a job recruiter. You have to remember that it is not your mentor’s job to find a job for you. They simply are there for when you need advice and nee to talk to. Although it help to respect your mentor, it is not required that He or She is your friend. Having a friend as your mentor might result in biased advice.
A career mentor may be difficult to find at first, but once you have one, they will be an invaluable tool for your business advancement.


7. CONCLUSION.


The divestment of government from providing social services created more poverty, and more unemployment and more ill-health for the Nigerian people.
The economic figures bandit about which became points of reference for achievement by the Nigerian government only led to, ironically, increase unavailability of job opportunities for the people.
The way forward to creating massive employment is for the government to lead the way rather than the private sector in the developing process.
The Nigerian state has to be involved as a major player in the establishment and management of economic and other forms of enterprises in order to promote jobs, development and growth.
This role of government, according to the national umbrella body of the Nigerian workers, “dictates the need for the Nigerian State to take back the public enterprises such as Eleme Petrochemicals Company, Aladja Steel Company and Ajaokuta Steel Plant that were distributed by government as handouts to people in ________________________________________
The private sector. Very importantly, it also means that the Nigerian State must return to the macroeconomic model of development planning that characterized our development efforts in the earlier and certainly, on the basis of all evidence, the most development and growth oriented period in our history”.
As a panacea to providing massive employment, deliberate steps should be taken by all the stakeholders to explore almost boundless opportunities that the agriculture sector holds for employment generation.
The Nigerian United Nation (UN) head stated: “ therefore, with the vast majority of the workforce employed in agriculture and the informal economy, or even casually, efforts targeting pro-poor growth should revolve around the agricultural sector, services, and sectors such as manufacturing and construction that have been identified as being capable of providing “high quality employment oriented growth”.