By..Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. Nigeria as the most Populous Country in Africa has the highest rate of unemployment in the Continent despite been the number one economy in the Continent
As the statistic shows that the unemployment rate reach more than 33 percent in the last quoter of 2022
Youths are at the receiving end being the major percentage of the Nigeria’s Population.
The phenomenon make Nigerian youths vulnerable to different kind of crimes such as kidnapping, arm robbery, Political thuggery and cyber crimes.
Nigerian youths also engage on illegal migration to different part of the world in search of greener posture
23 Million Nigerians are Jobless According to recent research
The number of unemployed individuals in the country has hit 23m, a report by Jobber man in collaboration with Young Africa Works and MasterCard Foundation has shown.
In the report titled, ‘Unmasking the Barriers to Women’s Participation in Nigeria’s Labour Market,’ Jobber man stated that Nigeria’s active population was 122m out of a total population of over 200m.
The report further indicate that 62 million of the active population are women and 60m are men.
The total number of individuals in the labour force was fixed at 70m; 30m women and 40m men.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the labour force population covers all persons aged 15 to 64 years who are willing and able to work regardless of whether or not they have a job.
The employed population was fixed at 46m; 20m for women and 26m for men. Individuals in informal employment were fixed at 43m, with 18m being women and 25m, men.
Those in formal employment out of the active population of 122m is a meagre 3m; with less than 1m for women and about 2.3m for men.
This leaves the number of unemployed Nigerians at 23m; 12m for women and 11m for men.
Statistic by an online data company, noted that as of 2021, the total unemployed population in Nigeria was estimated at a peak of around 6.3m. This increased from the preceding years when around 6m people were not in any form of employment.
Overall, the rate of unemployment in the country has been following an increasing trend.
Chronological data show that the unemployment rate in Nigeria rose constantly in the past years. In the fourth quarter of 2020, over 33 per cent of the labour force was unemployed, according to data.
Experts warned that things may get drastic if nothing is done fast.
Courses of Unemployment in Nigeria
The economist said there are so many factors that contributed to the high unemployment rate in Nigeria.Among the reasons , there is inadequate sources of capital which really affected individual entrepreneurs and those willing to engage in small and medium businesses.
Another reason according the economic analyst is inadequate government intervention and rapid population growth.He said population alone is not a problem but government in ability to make proper investment in education sector , Health care ,labour force participation , and Skill acquisition.
Dr. K’ani added that unemployment and poverty level are predominantly high in northern Nigeria compared to southern part of the Country.The poverty level in Northern Nigeria is 67.8 percent while in southern part of Nigeria is 24 PercentInadequate power supply is also another critical factor that causes unemployment in Nigeria . He said if there is steady power supply more Industries will be established beside the existing one’s that are working under difficult condition. So that the significant percentage of youths can be absorbed as employees.
“In Kano State in Particular there is over 1.6 million medium and small enterprises and over 500 Manufacturing Industries , but unfortunately due to shortage of power supply their combine production capacity is below 20 Percent. Too much bureaucracy is an additional factor of unemployment, the bureaucratic nature is unimaginable , as it takes so much time and formalities compared to advance countries that simplifies all the process” Dr. Abdussalam said
The implication of unemployment
The Executive Director, Fiscal Discipline and Development Advocacy Center (FIDAC) stated that, there is linkage between insecurity ,poverty and unemployment.
” One of the major implications of unemployment is that there will be all forms of insecurity of life and properties in Nigeria and when you look at it , there is boko haram in Nigeria arm robbery, kidnapping and banditry ” he said.
Dr. K’ani added that unemployment lead to various forms of crimes and to much of lost of government revenue as all employed citizens are expected to pay tax. The economist expressed that when unemployment prevailed government is losing huge revenue.
Another implication is that , there will be all forms of immorality in the society , every Nigerian can attest to the level of moral decadence as good cultural heritage were abandoned. He said most of youths are not engaged so they venture into unnecessary activities and bad behaviors such as drug abuse.
The Executive Director, FIDAC expressed that another effect of unemployment is poverty which affect all aspect of life such as basic necessities; including food ,cloth , access to healthcare and shelter . Any person that is not employed can not Carter for the basic needs and this lead to family rejection and stigmatization.
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