Addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria

Business Day (Nigeria)

17 March 2011

Addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria .

Nigeria’s growing unemployment is one of a major concern to many analysts and economists as the figures increasingly suggest dwindling potentials. Official figures from the Bureau of statistics puts this figure at about 20% (about 30million), but this figure still did not include about 40million other Nigerian youths captured in World Bank statistics in 2009.

By implication, it means that if Nigeria’s population is 140 million, then 50% of Nigerians are unemployed, or worse still, at least 71% of Nigerian youths are unemployed. This is particularly disturbing and counterproductive because at least 70% of the population of this country is youths. Viewing this from the perceptive of the recent events in the Middle East where unemployment and poverty among others played a key role in the uprising, one can only conclude that Nigeria’s unemployment poses a threat to its development, security and peaceful coexistence, being that Nigeria is made up of diverse entities from different cultural and religious backgrounds most of whom have shown differences in political, cultural and religious understanding and accommodation emanating from concerns of abuse of power, resource allocation, nepotism, negligence and corruption among others.

It is therefore not out of place to consider massive employment generation as an issue of a major focus on national development and economic growth plan of the Nigerian government.