Tessy Igomu
Desperate and in need of jobs, millions of Nigerians stormed several locations on Saturday, March 15, 2014, for an aptitude test to enable them to get enlisted into the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).
At the end of the exercise, 16 of the applicants met their untimely death due to overcrowding, stampede and exhaustion. Several other applicants jostling for the 4,000 positions were also injured at the various venues for the test.
The deaths were like a window into the alarming degree to which Nigeria’s unemployment crisis, which has plagued the country for decades, had reached.
Years after the tragedy, nothing appears to have changed. Presently, the unemployment rate rocking the country appears scary and alarming.
Within nine months between 2017 and 2018, it was gathered, no fewer than 3.3 million Nigerians suffered job losses. This was contained in the latest labour statistics rolled out by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. The report was for between the fourth quarter of 2017 and third quarter of 2018
For development analysts, this startling data is like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode with disastrous consequences. For these concerned stakeholders, the dire situation calls for concern and action.
According to the report, about 3.3 million Nigerians became unemployed between December 2017 and September 2018. It also indicated that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose from 17.6 million to 20.9 million. Unemployment rate, accordingly, also increased from 18.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 to 23.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2018.
The report also showed that with 20.9 million people unemployed at the end of the third quarter, the economically active or working age population, which fell within 15 to 64 years, increased from 111.1 million within the stated period in 2017 to 115.5 million in the corresponding period in 2018.
“The total number of people classified as unemployed, which means they did nothing at all or worked few hours (under 20 hours a week) to be classified as employed increased from 17.6 million in Q4 2017 to 20.9 million in Q3 2018.
“Of the 20.9 million persons classified as unemployed as at Q3 2018, 11.1 million did some form of work but for too few hours a week (under 20 hours) to be officially classified as employed while 9.7 million did absolutely nothing.
“Of the 9.7 million unemployed that did absolutely nothing as at Q3 2018, 90.1% of them or 8.77 million were reported to be unemployed and doing nothing because they were first-time job seekers and had never worked before. On the other hand, 9.9 million 0r 0.9% of the 9.7 million that were unemployed and doing nothing at all reported they were unemployed and did nothing at all because they were previously employed but lost their jobs at some point in the past which was why they were unemployed.
“Of the 9.7 million that were unemployed and did nothing at all, 35.0 per cent or 3.4 million have been unemployed and did nothing at all for less than a year, 17.2 per cent or 1.6 million for a year, 15.7 per cent or 1.5 million had been unemployed and did nothing for two years, and the remaining 32.1 per cent or 3.1 million unemployed persons had been unemployed doing nothing for three and above years,” the report states.
The report also stated that the total number of people in full-time employment declined from 52.7 million in the second quarter of 2017 to 51.1 million in the third quarter.
It further revealed that unemployment and underemployment rate figures increased from14.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 16.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 and 18.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2017. The number of those in the unemployed or underemployment index increased from 13.6 million and 17.7 million respectively in the second quarter of 2017, to 15.9 million and 18.0 million in the third quarter of 2017.
The report further showed that the total unemployment and underemployment rate combined increased from 37.2 per cent in the previous quarter to 40.0 per cent in the third quarter. It also indicated that between January and September 2017, about 4.07 million Nigerians became unemployed and that the number later rose from 11.92 million in the first quarter of 2017 to 13.58 million and 15.99 million in the second and third quarters, respectively.
For the fourth quarter of 2017, the report showed that 7.9 million Nigerian youth aged 15 to 34 were unemployed and 58.1 per cent of them who had jobs were underemployed.
Overall, the report noted that the increasing unemployment rate implies that inasmuch as the Nigerian economy was officially speculated to be out of recession, domestic labour market was still fragile.
According to the United Nations Environment Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (UNEP-EBAFOSA), the biggest problem facing Nigeria today is youth unemployment, as about 11 million jobs are required every year to engage the unemployed.
The regional coordinator of the agency, Dr. Richard Munang, who made this disclosure at the UNEP-EBAFOSA Nigeria policy harmonisation meeting for implementing the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) and Climate Action, in Abuja, noted that the huge unemployment could be linked to unfriendly policies.
He lamented that despite this sad reality, Nigeria has continued to create more unemployment by importing items such as tomato paste worth $360 million every year and losing N9 billion yearly as a result of post-harvest losses.
“That means Nigeria is importing unemployment to add on top of the unemployment that she got,” he stressed.
“If you look at Nigeria today, Nigeria is losing food as a result of post-harvest losses worth $9 billion every year. This is loss not just in food but also of incomes and opportunities, especially for youths; because, as we are speaking today, Nigeria needs to create 11 million jobs every year to be able to absorb unemployed youths in the country.”
In the same vein, the president of EBAFOSA-Nigeria, Mr. James Oyesola, lamented that youth unemployment rate has steadily been on the increase, rising from 9.8 per cent in 2008, to 13.41 per cent in 2017.
Still quoting the NBS, Oyesola pointed out that, out of 85.08 million people in Nigeria’s active workforce, 16 million were unemployed in most of 2017.
In spite of this scary reality, experts are still projecting that unemployment rate may likely hit an all-time high, as higher institutions continue to turn out graduates with very few businesses growing or employing, even as many others continue to downsize. They also noted that Nigeria and Nigerians have always lived in denial in terms of acknowledging the huge unemployment figure.
Available statistics indicate that Nigeria has a predominantly youth population, with the estimated 200 million population estimated to be majorly youths falling below 40 years. Based on the statistics, the unemployment situation seems to be worse for youth that constitute a significant percentage of the population.
Youth unemployment, according to the statistics, rose to 52.65 per cent by the fourth quarter of 2017, from 49.7 per cent in the preceding quarter, which meant that 22.62 million youth were either jobless or underemployed.
The data also revealed that 7.9 million jobs were lost from January 2016 to September 2017, indicating that some four out of 10 Nigerians were jobless or underemployed.
According to analysts, Nigeria’s 18.8 per cent official jobless rate is believed to be the world’s third highest after South Africa’s 27.7 per cent and Greece’s 20.9 per cent by the third quarter of 2018.
With this analysis signalling danger to many, they are of the view that unless jobs are created to engage the youth population, the country’s future could be heading for considerable turbulence.
According to experts, the frustration and desperation that daily torment the unemployed creates a fertile ground for crime to thrive. They also maintained that lately there have been notable adverse social, economic and political developments in Nigeria, which are fallouts of youth unemployment and underemployment
Miffed by the current unemployment rate and what was described as abysmal economic growth, experts maintained it was time the federal government focused on factors capable of hastening economic development to save Nigeria’s future. They also said the combined forces of high unemployment, double-digit inflation and a fragile GDP growth that is still below the rate of population growth may altogether prevent any meaningful economic growth.
According to Nonso Nnobi, managing director, Ollylnx Holdings, the statistics might have been doctored to underplay the real reality. He noted that out of the Nigerian youth population of 80 million, 64 million of them are unemployed, while 1.6 million of those working are underemployed.
He lamented that, presently, Nigeria’s youth unemployment is put at 52.65 per cent and it should ordinarily give the federal government and other policymakers cause for concern.
“With the recurring ugly decimal of youth unemployment getting worse, a sustained pragmatic intervention should be top priority. Youth unemployment is an unwanted social trend and its effects on affected youths are always geared towards crime. As the number of unemployed Nigerians continue to grow, so does crime and criminality,” said one expert.
Many averred that it was time government doubled efforts towards creating jobs and developing an enabling an environment for business to grow. They noted that one of the very quick ways to achieve this is to focus job creation policies on manufacturing, industrialization and information and communication technology.
Director-general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muda Yusuf said the time has come for government to activate policies that would assist the private sector.
“The private sector is not robust and it is affecting the growth of the economy. We keep borrowing to finance projects. The Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are not going to sectors that are elastic in terms of job creation. All these need to be improved upon,” he said.
Many Nigerians were of the view that for this menace to be tackled headlong, government should focus on helping youths develop and acquire skills that will make them self-employed. They maintained that most youth at the moment don’t have the requisite skills to man many jobs.
Going by projection that by 2050, Nigeria’s population would have grown to about 500 million, many Nigerians are apprehensive. They want the federal government to make the issue of youth employment a priority.