Nigeria’s towering unemployment and poverty rates

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA Unemployment and poverty rate in Nigeria have become a major concern to Nigerians, especially the downtrodden in the society. Despite government’s numerous measures to check the alarming increase in the rate of unemployment and poverty, it is very saddened that all the efforts put in place had become futile, even as government voted a lot of resources to check it. Many Nigerians believe that government was not being sincere in tackling the menace that has eclipsed the future of the country. The World Bank recently released its economic report on Nigeria. The report largely reinforces what many genuine Nigerian economic analysts have been saying. According to the report, Nigeria’s annual growth rates that an average of over seven per cent in official data during the last decade, place the nation among the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth has been concentrated particularly on trade and agriculture, which would suggest substantial benefits for many Nigerians. Nevertheless, improvements in social welfare indicators have been much slower than would be expected in the context of this growth. Poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social distress for an increasing number of Nigerians. Progress towards the fulfillment of many of the Millennium Development Goals has been slow, and the country ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nations Human Development Index. This portends a danger to the country’s development. The World Bank further notes that Job creation in Nigeria has been inadequate to keep pace with the expanding working age population. The official unemployment rate had steadily increased from 12 per cent of the working age population in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2011. Preliminary indications is that this upward trend continued in 2012. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, each year, about 1.8 million young Nigerians graduate into the labour market searching for jobs that are not there. Nigeria’s economy is in comatose, even cracking to the extent that it lacks the capability to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates and youths. Majority of the Nigeria’s graduates had turned to agents of mass destruction such as, armed robbery, kidnapping, political thugs while some are professional beggars. The country’s resources have been rotated among some people in government and private sector, who constitute the meagre percentage of the country’s large population. It is devastating that a country blessed with both human and natural resources like Nigeria is lagging behind in all aspects. Nigeria has never suffered from heavy natural disaster than man-made disasters. Some Nigerians are even among the World richest people. Recently, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and few others made the Forbes list of the richest people in the World. Forbes reviewed the top 21 richest Nigerians based on the value of their shares held in quoted companies, the size and market share of their companies, the number of companies they own and its assumed value, the market value of their company’s brand and the impact of their companies on the Nigerian economy. Though it is pertinent to note that these people that topped the richest list have made significant contributions towards the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy, they also seized the opportunities provided in the country for business to hold the economy to ransom and thus enrich their personal pockets in order to be ranked amongst the richest people in the world. Countries like Ghana, South Africa and Benin Republic among others without having people that top the list in the World enjoyed stable economy, power supply, good governance, adequate infrastructures and amenities. Ghanaians used to live and transact businesses before in Nigeria when their economy was bad, but now reverse was the case as many Nigerians preferred to live, school and even have their investments in Ghana than Nigeria due to the country’s stable economy, stable power and adequate basic infrastructural facilities provided by their government. Nigeria has been experiencing growth without development. There is just no way a country experiencing high inflation, unemployment and poverty can be said to be developing even if its economic growth is in double digits. Nigerian Universities are also churning out graduates on yearly basis, saturating the labour market with nothing to serve as income for them and source of living, thereby, increasing the rate of crime in the country. It is worth reiterating that despite these unemployment and poverty rate, there have been more job losses than jobs creation. Not at the federal level alone, even at state and local government levels as well as the private sector. The words, “rightsizing” and “downsizing” crept into our national lexicon; we have not yet done with it as many states government are using them to disengage some public workers. There is need to interrogate many jobs referred to by the government as employment opportunities. In my opinion, there is actually under-employment. Take for instance the glamourised SURE-P programme of the Federal government that was established as part of palliative measures from the removal of subsidy from oil in order to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths and other youth empowerment schemes embarked upon by some of the states government where graduates of tertiary institutions are recruited as street sweepers, casual workers in ministries and parastatals and traffic managers only to be paid N10, 000 a month. This is pure under-employment. There is also increasing casualisation by many public and private companies. Under this inhuman policy, eminently qualified personnel are recruited under conditions similar to slavery with peanuts as salaries and without any other welfare packages such as health, transport, housing allowances, leave bonus etc. Nigerian government wastes huge amount of money on political office holders at the Federal, State and local government levels. It is on Nigeria’s terrain that we see Governor’s aides having his/her own aides to the extent that some have more than 4 aides under government’s payroll, while some of these government’s appointees are believed to be half literate and stark politicians that have nothing to offer their respective states or country than to be mere political tools. All resources that are supposed to be tailored towards providing jobs for the graduates and unemployed youths are used to serve the political appointees which makes majority of the state governments to be spending larger percent of their monthly allocations on them. Jobs creation is one of the cardinal programmes of all the three tiers of government in Nigeria, but despite their mouth-washing campaigns and fake promises, it is disheartening that nothing serious has been done in this regard, while they only embark on programmes that will turn them to a one night richest. Recently, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University, Malete, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, at a press briefing on the establishment of the School of Business and Governance, said both the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Universities had failed Nigerians woefully. Na’Allah decried that despite the huge human and natural resources the country’s endowed with, nothing was done to channel the abundant resources towards her growth and development, allowing the resources to waste. According to him, if government provides the necessary materials required for the country’s tertiary institutions and the Academics ready to prepare the undergraduates to meet future challenges of making them job creators not seekers, the problems confronting the country would be lessen. The World Bank is on point in its suggestion that, “It is imperative that Nigeria finds a recipe to unlock rapid growth and job creation in a larger part of the country, as well as to increase standards of education, health, and other social services to enable its citizens to find gainful employment in the emerging growth poles.” There is no two ways about it; gainful employment will drastically reduce poverty. No one is under any illusion that only the government holds the recipe to fight unemployment and poverty. However, government needs to provide the enabling environment that will make private sector, the cottage industries, and the artisanal service providers to thrive. If there is significant improved electricity supply, it will reduce the cost of doing business drastically as many welders, hairdressers, barbers and other artisans will find it easier to ply their trade. Once the government can help bring down the cost of doing business through appropriate policies inclusive of low interest on loans, provision of critical social infrastructure and adequate security of lives and property, the problem of unemployment will abate and likewise poverty as the dependency ratio will also reduce. Government needs to be sincere in its effort at tackling unemployment and poverty. The numbers of government’s political appointees and their aides are too much, where money that should be used to provide jobs is used to serve them. Therefore, it is expedient for the three tiers of government to reduce their expenses, lower the cost of governance if they are actually sincere to the plight of Nigerians. Nigerians need to fight corruption, injustice, inequality and demand for their rights from government. They must hold government responsible for their plight, while the Nigeria Union of Journalists, an umbrella body of all practicing journalists as the fourth estate of the realm needs to serve as watch-dog to government. They should unravel what is being covered up by the political office holders and those saddled with the responsibility of managing the country’s economy. Different Non-Governmental Organizations must also wake up from their slumber and renew the fight against corruption and injustice. Nigerians must wake up and jointly fight and wage war against these menacing scourges in order to save the country from collapsing. Graduate unemployment must be tackled at all levels of government. The Nigeria Labour market must be made to be begging for employment not the graduates begging for employment. Before an undergraduate finishes from the University or polytechnic, the labour market should already provide a place to fix such person. By doing this, poverty rate will reduce and development will take place in Nigeria in earnest. Olayinka Alaya, is a journalist Writes from Ilorin via yeancahalaya@yahoo.com

Nigeria’s towering unemployment and poverty rates

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA Unemployment and poverty rate in Nigeria have become a major concern to Nigerians, especially the downtrodden in the society. Despite government’s numerous measures to check the alarming increase in the rate of unemployment and poverty, it is very saddened that all the efforts put in place had become futile, even as government voted a lot of resources to check it. Many Nigerians believe that government was not being sincere in tackling the menace that has eclipsed the future of the country. The World Bank recently released its economic report on Nigeria. The report largely reinforces what many genuine Nigerian economic analysts have been saying. According to the report, Nigeria’s annual growth rates that an average of over seven per cent in official data during the last decade, place the nation among the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth has been concentrated particularly on trade and agriculture, which would suggest substantial benefits for many Nigerians. Nevertheless, improvements in social welfare indicators have been much slower than would be expected in the context of this growth. Poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social distress for an increasing number of Nigerians. Progress towards the fulfillment of many of the Millennium Development Goals has been slow, and the country ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nations Human Development Index. This portends a danger to the country’s development. The World Bank further notes that Job creation in Nigeria has been inadequate to keep pace with the expanding working age population. The official unemployment rate had steadily increased from 12 per cent of the working age population in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2011. Preliminary indications is that this upward trend continued in 2012. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, each year, about 1.8 million young Nigerians graduate into the labour market searching for jobs that are not there. Nigeria’s economy is in comatose, even cracking to the extent that it lacks the capability to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates and youths. Majority of the Nigeria’s graduates had turned to agents of mass destruction such as, armed robbery, kidnapping, political thugs while some are professional beggars. The country’s resources have been rotated among some people in government and private sector, who constitute the meagre percentage of the country’s large population. It is devastating that a country blessed with both human and natural resources like Nigeria is lagging behind in all aspects. Nigeria has never suffered from heavy natural disaster than man-made disasters. Some Nigerians are even among the World richest people. Recently, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and few others made the Forbes list of the richest people in the World. Forbes reviewed the top 21 richest Nigerians based on the value of their shares held in quoted companies, the size and market share of their companies, the number of companies they own and its assumed value, the market value of their company’s brand and the impact of their companies on the Nigerian economy. Though it is pertinent to note that these people that topped the richest list have made significant contributions towards the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy, they also seized the opportunities provided in the country for business to hold the economy to ransom and thus enrich their personal pockets in order to be ranked amongst the richest people in the world. Countries like Ghana, South Africa and Benin Republic among others without having people that top the list in the World enjoyed stable economy, power supply, good governance, adequate infrastructures and amenities. Ghanaians used to live and transact businesses before in Nigeria when their economy was bad, but now reverse was the case as many Nigerians preferred to live, school and even have their investments in Ghana than Nigeria due to the country’s stable economy, stable power and adequate basic infrastructural facilities provided by their government. Nigeria has been experiencing growth without development. There is just no way a country experiencing high inflation, unemployment and poverty can be said to be developing even if its economic growth is in double digits. Nigerian Universities are also churning out graduates on yearly basis, saturating the labour market with nothing to serve as income for them and source of living, thereby, increasing the rate of crime in the country. It is worth reiterating that despite these unemployment and poverty rate, there have been more job losses than jobs creation. Not at the federal level alone, even at state and local government levels as well as the private sector. The words, “rightsizing” and “downsizing” crept into our national lexicon; we have not yet done with it as many states government are using them to disengage some public workers. There is need to interrogate many jobs referred to by the government as employment opportunities. In my opinion, there is actually under-employment. Take for instance the glamourised SURE-P programme of the Federal government that was established as part of palliative measures from the removal of subsidy from oil in order to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths and other youth empowerment schemes embarked upon by some of the states government where graduates of tertiary institutions are recruited as street sweepers, casual workers in ministries and parastatals and traffic managers only to be paid N10, 000 a month. This is pure under-employment. There is also increasing casualisation by many public and private companies. Under this inhuman policy, eminently qualified personnel are recruited under conditions similar to slavery with peanuts as salaries and without any other welfare packages such as health, transport, housing allowances, leave bonus etc. Nigerian government wastes huge amount of money on political office holders at the Federal, State and local government levels. It is on Nigeria’s terrain that we see Governor’s aides having his/her own aides to the extent that some have more than 4 aides under government’s payroll, while some of these government’s appointees are believed to be half literate and stark politicians that have nothing to offer their respective states or country than to be mere political tools. All resources that are supposed to be tailored towards providing jobs for the graduates and unemployed youths are used to serve the political appointees which makes majority of the state governments to be spending larger percent of their monthly allocations on them. Jobs creation is one of the cardinal programmes of all the three tiers of government in Nigeria, but despite their mouth-washing campaigns and fake promises, it is disheartening that nothing serious has been done in this regard, while they only embark on programmes that will turn them to a one night richest. Recently, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University, Malete, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, at a press briefing on the establishment of the School of Business and Governance, said both the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Universities had failed Nigerians woefully. Na’Allah decried that despite the huge human and natural resources the country’s endowed with, nothing was done to channel the abundant resources towards her growth and development, allowing the resources to waste. According to him, if government provides the necessary materials required for the country’s tertiary institutions and the Academics ready to prepare the undergraduates to meet future challenges of making them job creators not seekers, the problems confronting the country would be lessen. The World Bank is on point in its suggestion that, “It is imperative that Nigeria finds a recipe to unlock rapid growth and job creation in a larger part of the country, as well as to increase standards of education, health, and other social services to enable its citizens to find gainful employment in the emerging growth poles.” There is no two ways about it; gainful employment will drastically reduce poverty. No one is under any illusion that only the government holds the recipe to fight unemployment and poverty. However, government needs to provide the enabling environment that will make private sector, the cottage industries, and the artisanal service providers to thrive. If there is significant improved electricity supply, it will reduce the cost of doing business drastically as many welders, hairdressers, barbers and other artisans will find it easier to ply their trade. Once the government can help bring down the cost of doing business through appropriate policies inclusive of low interest on loans, provision of critical social infrastructure and adequate security of lives and property, the problem of unemployment will abate and likewise poverty as the dependency ratio will also reduce. Government needs to be sincere in its effort at tackling unemployment and poverty. The numbers of government’s political appointees and their aides are too much, where money that should be used to provide jobs is used to serve them. Therefore, it is expedient for the three tiers of government to reduce their expenses, lower the cost of governance if they are actually sincere to the plight of Nigerians. Nigerians need to fight corruption, injustice, inequality and demand for their rights from government. They must hold government responsible for their plight, while the Nigeria Union of Journalists, an umbrella body of all practicing journalists as the fourth estate of the realm needs to serve as watch-dog to government. They should unravel what is being covered up by the political office holders and those saddled with the responsibility of managing the country’s economy. Different Non-Governmental Organizations must also wake up from their slumber and renew the fight against corruption and injustice. Nigerians must wake up and jointly fight and wage war against these menacing scourges in order to save the country from collapsing. Graduate unemployment must be tackled at all levels of government. The Nigeria Labour market must be made to be begging for employment not the graduates begging for employment. Before an undergraduate finishes from the University or polytechnic, the labour market should already provide a place to fix such person. By doing this, poverty rate will reduce and development will take place in Nigeria in earnest. Olayinka Alaya, is a journalist Writes from Ilorin via yeancahalaya@yahoo.com

Nigeria’s towering unemployment and poverty rates

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA Unemployment and poverty rate in Nigeria have become a major concern to Nigerians, especially the downtrodden in the society. Despite government’s numerous measures to check the alarming increase in the rate of unemployment and poverty, it is very saddened that all the efforts put in place had become futile, even as government voted a lot of resources to check it. Many Nigerians believe that government was not being sincere in tackling the menace that has eclipsed the future of the country. The World Bank recently released its economic report on Nigeria. The report largely reinforces what many genuine Nigerian economic analysts have been saying. According to the report, Nigeria’s annual growth rates that an average of over seven per cent in official data during the last decade, place the nation among the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth has been concentrated particularly on trade and agriculture, which would suggest substantial benefits for many Nigerians. Nevertheless, improvements in social welfare indicators have been much slower than would be expected in the context of this growth. Poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social distress for an increasing number of Nigerians. Progress towards the fulfillment of many of the Millennium Development Goals has been slow, and the country ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nations Human Development Index. This portends a danger to the country’s development. The World Bank further notes that Job creation in Nigeria has been inadequate to keep pace with the expanding working age population. The official unemployment rate had steadily increased from 12 per cent of the working age population in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2011. Preliminary indications is that this upward trend continued in 2012. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, each year, about 1.8 million young Nigerians graduate into the labour market searching for jobs that are not there. Nigeria’s economy is in comatose, even cracking to the extent that it lacks the capability to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates and youths. Majority of the Nigeria’s graduates had turned to agents of mass destruction such as, armed robbery, kidnapping, political thugs while some are professional beggars. The country’s resources have been rotated among some people in government and private sector, who constitute the meagre percentage of the country’s large population. It is devastating that a country blessed with both human and natural resources like Nigeria is lagging behind in all aspects. Nigeria has never suffered from heavy natural disaster than man-made disasters. Some Nigerians are even among the World richest people. Recently, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and few others made the Forbes list of the richest people in the World. Forbes reviewed the top 21 richest Nigerians based on the value of their shares held in quoted companies, the size and market share of their companies, the number of companies they own and its assumed value, the market value of their company’s brand and the impact of their companies on the Nigerian economy. Though it is pertinent to note that these people that topped the richest list have made significant contributions towards the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy, they also seized the opportunities provided in the country for business to hold the economy to ransom and thus enrich their personal pockets in order to be ranked amongst the richest people in the world. Countries like Ghana, South Africa and Benin Republic among others without having people that top the list in the World enjoyed stable economy, power supply, good governance, adequate infrastructures and amenities. Ghanaians used to live and transact businesses before in Nigeria when their economy was bad, but now reverse was the case as many Nigerians preferred to live, school and even have their investments in Ghana than Nigeria due to the country’s stable economy, stable power and adequate basic infrastructural facilities provided by their government. Nigeria has been experiencing growth without development. There is just no way a country experiencing high inflation, unemployment and poverty can be said to be developing even if its economic growth is in double digits. Nigerian Universities are also churning out graduates on yearly basis, saturating the labour market with nothing to serve as income for them and source of living, thereby, increasing the rate of crime in the country. It is worth reiterating that despite these unemployment and poverty rate, there have been more job losses than jobs creation. Not at the federal level alone, even at state and local government levels as well as the private sector. The words, “rightsizing” and “downsizing” crept into our national lexicon; we have not yet done with it as many states government are using them to disengage some public workers. There is need to interrogate many jobs referred to by the government as employment opportunities. In my opinion, there is actually under-employment. Take for instance the glamourised SURE-P programme of the Federal government that was established as part of palliative measures from the removal of subsidy from oil in order to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths and other youth empowerment schemes embarked upon by some of the states government where graduates of tertiary institutions are recruited as street sweepers, casual workers in ministries and parastatals and traffic managers only to be paid N10, 000 a month. This is pure under-employment. There is also increasing casualisation by many public and private companies. Under this inhuman policy, eminently qualified personnel are recruited under conditions similar to slavery with peanuts as salaries and without any other welfare packages such as health, transport, housing allowances, leave bonus etc. Nigerian government wastes huge amount of money on political office holders at the Federal, State and local government levels. It is on Nigeria’s terrain that we see Governor’s aides having his/her own aides to the extent that some have more than 4 aides under government’s payroll, while some of these government’s appointees are believed to be half literate and stark politicians that have nothing to offer their respective states or country than to be mere political tools. All resources that are supposed to be tailored towards providing jobs for the graduates and unemployed youths are used to serve the political appointees which makes majority of the state governments to be spending larger percent of their monthly allocations on them. Jobs creation is one of the cardinal programmes of all the three tiers of government in Nigeria, but despite their mouth-washing campaigns and fake promises, it is disheartening that nothing serious has been done in this regard, while they only embark on programmes that will turn them to a one night richest. Recently, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University, Malete, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, at a press briefing on the establishment of the School of Business and Governance, said both the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Universities had failed Nigerians woefully. Na’Allah decried that despite the huge human and natural resources the country’s endowed with, nothing was done to channel the abundant resources towards her growth and development, allowing the resources to waste. According to him, if government provides the necessary materials required for the country’s tertiary institutions and the Academics ready to prepare the undergraduates to meet future challenges of making them job creators not seekers, the problems confronting the country would be lessen. The World Bank is on point in its suggestion that, “It is imperative that Nigeria finds a recipe to unlock rapid growth and job creation in a larger part of the country, as well as to increase standards of education, health, and other social services to enable its citizens to find gainful employment in the emerging growth poles.” There is no two ways about it; gainful employment will drastically reduce poverty. No one is under any illusion that only the government holds the recipe to fight unemployment and poverty. However, government needs to provide the enabling environment that will make private sector, the cottage industries, and the artisanal service providers to thrive. If there is significant improved electricity supply, it will reduce the cost of doing business drastically as many welders, hairdressers, barbers and other artisans will find it easier to ply their trade. Once the government can help bring down the cost of doing business through appropriate policies inclusive of low interest on loans, provision of critical social infrastructure and adequate security of lives and property, the problem of unemployment will abate and likewise poverty as the dependency ratio will also reduce. Government needs to be sincere in its effort at tackling unemployment and poverty. The numbers of government’s political appointees and their aides are too much, where money that should be used to provide jobs is used to serve them. Therefore, it is expedient for the three tiers of government to reduce their expenses, lower the cost of governance if they are actually sincere to the plight of Nigerians. Nigerians need to fight corruption, injustice, inequality and demand for their rights from government. They must hold government responsible for their plight, while the Nigeria Union of Journalists, an umbrella body of all practicing journalists as the fourth estate of the realm needs to serve as watch-dog to government. They should unravel what is being covered up by the political office holders and those saddled with the responsibility of managing the country’s economy. Different Non-Governmental Organizations must also wake up from their slumber and renew the fight against corruption and injustice. Nigerians must wake up and jointly fight and wage war against these menacing scourges in order to save the country from collapsing. Graduate unemployment must be tackled at all levels of government. The Nigeria Labour market must be made to be begging for employment not the graduates begging for employment. Before an undergraduate finishes from the University or polytechnic, the labour market should already provide a place to fix such person. By doing this, poverty rate will reduce and development will take place in Nigeria in earnest. Olayinka Alaya, is a journalist Writes from Ilorin via yeancahalaya@yahoo.com

Nigeria’s towering unemployment and poverty rates

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA Unemployment and poverty rate in Nigeria have become a major concern to Nigerians, especially the downtrodden in the society. Despite government’s numerous measures to check the alarming increase in the rate of unemployment and poverty, it is very saddened that all the efforts put in place had become futile, even as government voted a lot of resources to check it. Many Nigerians believe that government was not being sincere in tackling the menace that has eclipsed the future of the country. The World Bank recently released its economic report on Nigeria. The report largely reinforces what many genuine Nigerian economic analysts have been saying. According to the report, Nigeria’s annual growth rates that an average of over seven per cent in official data during the last decade, place the nation among the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth has been concentrated particularly on trade and agriculture, which would suggest substantial benefits for many Nigerians. Nevertheless, improvements in social welfare indicators have been much slower than would be expected in the context of this growth. Poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social distress for an increasing number of Nigerians. Progress towards the fulfillment of many of the Millennium Development Goals has been slow, and the country ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nations Human Development Index. This portends a danger to the country’s development. The World Bank further notes that Job creation in Nigeria has been inadequate to keep pace with the expanding working age population. The official unemployment rate had steadily increased from 12 per cent of the working age population in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2011. Preliminary indications is that this upward trend continued in 2012. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, each year, about 1.8 million young Nigerians graduate into the labour market searching for jobs that are not there. Nigeria’s economy is in comatose, even cracking to the extent that it lacks the capability to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates and youths. Majority of the Nigeria’s graduates had turned to agents of mass destruction such as, armed robbery, kidnapping, political thugs while some are professional beggars. The country’s resources have been rotated among some people in government and private sector, who constitute the meagre percentage of the country’s large population. It is devastating that a country blessed with both human and natural resources like Nigeria is lagging behind in all aspects. Nigeria has never suffered from heavy natural disaster than man-made disasters. Some Nigerians are even among the World richest people. Recently, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and few others made the Forbes list of the richest people in the World. Forbes reviewed the top 21 richest Nigerians based on the value of their shares held in quoted companies, the size and market share of their companies, the number of companies they own and its assumed value, the market value of their company’s brand and the impact of their companies on the Nigerian economy. Though it is pertinent to note that these people that topped the richest list have made significant contributions towards the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy, they also seized the opportunities provided in the country for business to hold the economy to ransom and thus enrich their personal pockets in order to be ranked amongst the richest people in the world. Countries like Ghana, South Africa and Benin Republic among others without having people that top the list in the World enjoyed stable economy, power supply, good governance, adequate infrastructures and amenities. Ghanaians used to live and transact businesses before in Nigeria when their economy was bad, but now reverse was the case as many Nigerians preferred to live, school and even have their investments in Ghana than Nigeria due to the country’s stable economy, stable power and adequate basic infrastructural facilities provided by their government. Nigeria has been experiencing growth without development. There is just no way a country experiencing high inflation, unemployment and poverty can be said to be developing even if its economic growth is in double digits. Nigerian Universities are also churning out graduates on yearly basis, saturating the labour market with nothing to serve as income for them and source of living, thereby, increasing the rate of crime in the country. It is worth reiterating that despite these unemployment and poverty rate, there have been more job losses than jobs creation. Not at the federal level alone, even at state and local government levels as well as the private sector. The words, “rightsizing” and “downsizing” crept into our national lexicon; we have not yet done with it as many states government are using them to disengage some public workers. There is need to interrogate many jobs referred to by the government as employment opportunities. In my opinion, there is actually under-employment. Take for instance the glamourised SURE-P programme of the Federal government that was established as part of palliative measures from the removal of subsidy from oil in order to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths and other youth empowerment schemes embarked upon by some of the states government where graduates of tertiary institutions are recruited as street sweepers, casual workers in ministries and parastatals and traffic managers only to be paid N10, 000 a month. This is pure under-employment. There is also increasing casualisation by many public and private companies. Under this inhuman policy, eminently qualified personnel are recruited under conditions similar to slavery with peanuts as salaries and without any other welfare packages such as health, transport, housing allowances, leave bonus etc. Nigerian government wastes huge amount of money on political office holders at the Federal, State and local government levels. It is on Nigeria’s terrain that we see Governor’s aides having his/her own aides to the extent that some have more than 4 aides under government’s payroll, while some of these government’s appointees are believed to be half literate and stark politicians that have nothing to offer their respective states or country than to be mere political tools. All resources that are supposed to be tailored towards providing jobs for the graduates and unemployed youths are used to serve the political appointees which makes majority of the state governments to be spending larger percent of their monthly allocations on them. Jobs creation is one of the cardinal programmes of all the three tiers of government in Nigeria, but despite their mouth-washing campaigns and fake promises, it is disheartening that nothing serious has been done in this regard, while they only embark on programmes that will turn them to a one night richest. Recently, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University, Malete, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, at a press briefing on the establishment of the School of Business and Governance, said both the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Universities had failed Nigerians woefully. Na’Allah decried that despite the huge human and natural resources the country’s endowed with, nothing was done to channel the abundant resources towards her growth and development, allowing the resources to waste. According to him, if government provides the necessary materials required for the country’s tertiary institutions and the Academics ready to prepare the undergraduates to meet future challenges of making them job creators not seekers, the problems confronting the country would be lessen. The World Bank is on point in its suggestion that, “It is imperative that Nigeria finds a recipe to unlock rapid growth and job creation in a larger part of the country, as well as to increase standards of education, health, and other social services to enable its citizens to find gainful employment in the emerging growth poles.” There is no two ways about it; gainful employment will drastically reduce poverty. No one is under any illusion that only the government holds the recipe to fight unemployment and poverty. However, government needs to provide the enabling environment that will make private sector, the cottage industries, and the artisanal service providers to thrive. If there is significant improved electricity supply, it will reduce the cost of doing business drastically as many welders, hairdressers, barbers and other artisans will find it easier to ply their trade. Once the government can help bring down the cost of doing business through appropriate policies inclusive of low interest on loans, provision of critical social infrastructure and adequate security of lives and property, the problem of unemployment will abate and likewise poverty as the dependency ratio will also reduce. Government needs to be sincere in its effort at tackling unemployment and poverty. The numbers of government’s political appointees and their aides are too much, where money that should be used to provide jobs is used to serve them. Therefore, it is expedient for the three tiers of government to reduce their expenses, lower the cost of governance if they are actually sincere to the plight of Nigerians. Nigerians need to fight corruption, injustice, inequality and demand for their rights from government. They must hold government responsible for their plight, while the Nigeria Union of Journalists, an umbrella body of all practicing journalists as the fourth estate of the realm needs to serve as watch-dog to government. They should unravel what is being covered up by the political office holders and those saddled with the responsibility of managing the country’s economy. Different Non-Governmental Organizations must also wake up from their slumber and renew the fight against corruption and injustice. Nigerians must wake up and jointly fight and wage war against these menacing scourges in order to save the country from collapsing. Graduate unemployment must be tackled at all levels of government. The Nigeria Labour market must be made to be begging for employment not the graduates begging for employment. Before an undergraduate finishes from the University or polytechnic, the labour market should already provide a place to fix such person. By doing this, poverty rate will reduce and development will take place in Nigeria in earnest. Olayinka Alaya, is a journalist Writes from Ilorin via yeancahalaya@yahoo.com

Nigeria’s towering unemployment and poverty rates

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA Unemployment and poverty rate in Nigeria have become a major concern to Nigerians, especially the downtrodden in the society. Despite government’s numerous measures to check the alarming increase in the rate of unemployment and poverty, it is very saddened that all the efforts put in place had become futile, even as government voted a lot of resources to check it. Many Nigerians believe that government was not being sincere in tackling the menace that has eclipsed the future of the country. The World Bank recently released its economic report on Nigeria. The report largely reinforces what many genuine Nigerian economic analysts have been saying. According to the report, Nigeria’s annual growth rates that an average of over seven per cent in official data during the last decade, place the nation among the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth has been concentrated particularly on trade and agriculture, which would suggest substantial benefits for many Nigerians. Nevertheless, improvements in social welfare indicators have been much slower than would be expected in the context of this growth. Poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social distress for an increasing number of Nigerians. Progress towards the fulfillment of many of the Millennium Development Goals has been slow, and the country ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nations Human Development Index. This portends a danger to the country’s development. The World Bank further notes that Job creation in Nigeria has been inadequate to keep pace with the expanding working age population. The official unemployment rate had steadily increased from 12 per cent of the working age population in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2011. Preliminary indications is that this upward trend continued in 2012. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, each year, about 1.8 million young Nigerians graduate into the labour market searching for jobs that are not there. Nigeria’s economy is in comatose, even cracking to the extent that it lacks the capability to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates and youths. Majority of the Nigeria’s graduates had turned to agents of mass destruction such as, armed robbery, kidnapping, political thugs while some are professional beggars. The country’s resources have been rotated among some people in government and private sector, who constitute the meagre percentage of the country’s large population. It is devastating that a country blessed with both human and natural resources like Nigeria is lagging behind in all aspects. Nigeria has never suffered from heavy natural disaster than man-made disasters. Some Nigerians are even among the World richest people. Recently, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and few others made the Forbes list of the richest people in the World. Forbes reviewed the top 21 richest Nigerians based on the value of their shares held in quoted companies, the size and market share of their companies, the number of companies they own and its assumed value, the market value of their company’s brand and the impact of their companies on the Nigerian economy. Though it is pertinent to note that these people that topped the richest list have made significant contributions towards the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy, they also seized the opportunities provided in the country for business to hold the economy to ransom and thus enrich their personal pockets in order to be ranked amongst the richest people in the world. Countries like Ghana, South Africa and Benin Republic among others without having people that top the list in the World enjoyed stable economy, power supply, good governance, adequate infrastructures and amenities. Ghanaians used to live and transact businesses before in Nigeria when their economy was bad, but now reverse was the case as many Nigerians preferred to live, school and even have their investments in Ghana than Nigeria due to the country’s stable economy, stable power and adequate basic infrastructural facilities provided by their government. Nigeria has been experiencing growth without development. There is just no way a country experiencing high inflation, unemployment and poverty can be said to be developing even if its economic growth is in double digits. Nigerian Universities are also churning out graduates on yearly basis, saturating the labour market with nothing to serve as income for them and source of living, thereby, increasing the rate of crime in the country. It is worth reiterating that despite these unemployment and poverty rate, there have been more job losses than jobs creation. Not at the federal level alone, even at state and local government levels as well as the private sector. The words, “rightsizing” and “downsizing” crept into our national lexicon; we have not yet done with it as many states government are using them to disengage some public workers. There is need to interrogate many jobs referred to by the government as employment opportunities. In my opinion, there is actually under-employment. Take for instance the glamourised SURE-P programme of the Federal government that was established as part of palliative measures from the removal of subsidy from oil in order to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths and other youth empowerment schemes embarked upon by some of the states government where graduates of tertiary institutions are recruited as street sweepers, casual workers in ministries and parastatals and traffic managers only to be paid N10, 000 a month. This is pure under-employment. There is also increasing casualisation by many public and private companies. Under this inhuman policy, eminently qualified personnel are recruited under conditions similar to slavery with peanuts as salaries and without any other welfare packages such as health, transport, housing allowances, leave bonus etc. Nigerian government wastes huge amount of money on political office holders at the Federal, State and local government levels. It is on Nigeria’s terrain that we see Governor’s aides having his/her own aides to the extent that some have more than 4 aides under government’s payroll, while some of these government’s appointees are believed to be half literate and stark politicians that have nothing to offer their respective states or country than to be mere political tools. All resources that are supposed to be tailored towards providing jobs for the graduates and unemployed youths are used to serve the political appointees which makes majority of the state governments to be spending larger percent of their monthly allocations on them. Jobs creation is one of the cardinal programmes of all the three tiers of government in Nigeria, but despite their mouth-washing campaigns and fake promises, it is disheartening that nothing serious has been done in this regard, while they only embark on programmes that will turn them to a one night richest. Recently, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University, Malete, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, at a press briefing on the establishment of the School of Business and Governance, said both the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Universities had failed Nigerians woefully. Na’Allah decried that despite the huge human and natural resources the country’s endowed with, nothing was done to channel the abundant resources towards her growth and development, allowing the resources to waste. According to him, if government provides the necessary materials required for the country’s tertiary institutions and the Academics ready to prepare the undergraduates to meet future challenges of making them job creators not seekers, the problems confronting the country would be lessen. The World Bank is on point in its suggestion that, “It is imperative that Nigeria finds a recipe to unlock rapid growth and job creation in a larger part of the country, as well as to increase standards of education, health, and other social services to enable its citizens to find gainful employment in the emerging growth poles.” There is no two ways about it; gainful employment will drastically reduce poverty. No one is under any illusion that only the government holds the recipe to fight unemployment and poverty. However, government needs to provide the enabling environment that will make private sector, the cottage industries, and the artisanal service providers to thrive. If there is significant improved electricity supply, it will reduce the cost of doing business drastically as many welders, hairdressers, barbers and other artisans will find it easier to ply their trade. Once the government can help bring down the cost of doing business through appropriate policies inclusive of low interest on loans, provision of critical social infrastructure and adequate security of lives and property, the problem of unemployment will abate and likewise poverty as the dependency ratio will also reduce. Government needs to be sincere in its effort at tackling unemployment and poverty. The numbers of government’s political appointees and their aides are too much, where money that should be used to provide jobs is used to serve them. Therefore, it is expedient for the three tiers of government to reduce their expenses, lower the cost of governance if they are actually sincere to the plight of Nigerians. Nigerians need to fight corruption, injustice, inequality and demand for their rights from government. They must hold government responsible for their plight, while the Nigeria Union of Journalists, an umbrella body of all practicing journalists as the fourth estate of the realm needs to serve as watch-dog to government. They should unravel what is being covered up by the political office holders and those saddled with the responsibility of managing the country’s economy. Different Non-Governmental Organizations must also wake up from their slumber and renew the fight against corruption and injustice. Nigerians must wake up and jointly fight and wage war against these menacing scourges in order to save the country from collapsing. Graduate unemployment must be tackled at all levels of government. The Nigeria Labour market must be made to be begging for employment not the graduates begging for employment. Before an undergraduate finishes from the University or polytechnic, the labour market should already provide a place to fix such person. By doing this, poverty rate will reduce and development will take place in Nigeria in earnest. Olayinka Alaya, is a journalist Writes from Ilorin via yeancahalaya@yahoo.com

Nigeria’s towering unemployment and poverty rates

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA Unemployment and poverty rate in Nigeria have become a major concern to Nigerians, especially the downtrodden in the society. Despite government’s numerous measures to check the alarming increase in the rate of unemployment and poverty, it is very saddened that all the efforts put in place had become futile, even as government voted a lot of resources to check it. Many Nigerians believe that government was not being sincere in tackling the menace that has eclipsed the future of the country. The World Bank recently released its economic report on Nigeria. The report largely reinforces what many genuine Nigerian economic analysts have been saying. According to the report, Nigeria’s annual growth rates that an average of over seven per cent in official data during the last decade, place the nation among the fastest growing economies in the world. This growth has been concentrated particularly on trade and agriculture, which would suggest substantial benefits for many Nigerians. Nevertheless, improvements in social welfare indicators have been much slower than would be expected in the context of this growth. Poverty reduction and job creation have not kept pace with population growth, implying social distress for an increasing number of Nigerians. Progress towards the fulfillment of many of the Millennium Development Goals has been slow, and the country ranked 153 out of 186 countries in the 2013 United Nations Human Development Index. This portends a danger to the country’s development. The World Bank further notes that Job creation in Nigeria has been inadequate to keep pace with the expanding working age population. The official unemployment rate had steadily increased from 12 per cent of the working age population in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2011. Preliminary indications is that this upward trend continued in 2012. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, each year, about 1.8 million young Nigerians graduate into the labour market searching for jobs that are not there. Nigeria’s economy is in comatose, even cracking to the extent that it lacks the capability to provide jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates and youths. Majority of the Nigeria’s graduates had turned to agents of mass destruction such as, armed robbery, kidnapping, political thugs while some are professional beggars. The country’s resources have been rotated among some people in government and private sector, who constitute the meagre percentage of the country’s large population. It is devastating that a country blessed with both human and natural resources like Nigeria is lagging behind in all aspects. Nigeria has never suffered from heavy natural disaster than man-made disasters. Some Nigerians are even among the World richest people. Recently, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and few others made the Forbes list of the richest people in the World. Forbes reviewed the top 21 richest Nigerians based on the value of their shares held in quoted companies, the size and market share of their companies, the number of companies they own and its assumed value, the market value of their company’s brand and the impact of their companies on the Nigerian economy. Though it is pertinent to note that these people that topped the richest list have made significant contributions towards the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy, they also seized the opportunities provided in the country for business to hold the economy to ransom and thus enrich their personal pockets in order to be ranked amongst the richest people in the world. Countries like Ghana, South Africa and Benin Republic among others without having people that top the list in the World enjoyed stable economy, power supply, good governance, adequate infrastructures and amenities. Ghanaians used to live and transact businesses before in Nigeria when their economy was bad, but now reverse was the case as many Nigerians preferred to live, school and even have their investments in Ghana than Nigeria due to the country’s stable economy, stable power and adequate basic infrastructural facilities provided by their government. Nigeria has been experiencing growth without development. There is just no way a country experiencing high inflation, unemployment and poverty can be said to be developing even if its economic growth is in double digits. Nigerian Universities are also churning out graduates on yearly basis, saturating the labour market with nothing to serve as income for them and source of living, thereby, increasing the rate of crime in the country. It is worth reiterating that despite these unemployment and poverty rate, there have been more job losses than jobs creation. Not at the federal level alone, even at state and local government levels as well as the private sector. The words, “rightsizing” and “downsizing” crept into our national lexicon; we have not yet done with it as many states government are using them to disengage some public workers. There is need to interrogate many jobs referred to by the government as employment opportunities. In my opinion, there is actually under-employment. Take for instance the glamourised SURE-P programme of the Federal government that was established as part of palliative measures from the removal of subsidy from oil in order to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths and other youth empowerment schemes embarked upon by some of the states government where graduates of tertiary institutions are recruited as street sweepers, casual workers in ministries and parastatals and traffic managers only to be paid N10, 000 a month. This is pure under-employment. There is also increasing casualisation by many public and private companies. Under this inhuman policy, eminently qualified personnel are recruited under conditions similar to slavery with peanuts as salaries and without any other welfare packages such as health, transport, housing allowances, leave bonus etc. Nigerian government wastes huge amount of money on political office holders at the Federal, State and local government levels. It is on Nigeria’s terrain that we see Governor’s aides having his/her own aides to the extent that some have more than 4 aides under government’s payroll, while some of these government’s appointees are believed to be half literate and stark politicians that have nothing to offer their respective states or country than to be mere political tools. All resources that are supposed to be tailored towards providing jobs for the graduates and unemployed youths are used to serve the political appointees which makes majority of the state governments to be spending larger percent of their monthly allocations on them. Jobs creation is one of the cardinal programmes of all the three tiers of government in Nigeria, but despite their mouth-washing campaigns and fake promises, it is disheartening that nothing serious has been done in this regard, while they only embark on programmes that will turn them to a one night richest. Recently, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University, Malete, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, at a press briefing on the establishment of the School of Business and Governance, said both the Nigerian government and the Nigerian Universities had failed Nigerians woefully. Na’Allah decried that despite the huge human and natural resources the country’s endowed with, nothing was done to channel the abundant resources towards her growth and development, allowing the resources to waste. According to him, if government provides the necessary materials required for the country’s tertiary institutions and the Academics ready to prepare the undergraduates to meet future challenges of making them job creators not seekers, the problems confronting the country would be lessen. The World Bank is on point in its suggestion that, “It is imperative that Nigeria finds a recipe to unlock rapid growth and job creation in a larger part of the country, as well as to increase standards of education, health, and other social services to enable its citizens to find gainful employment in the emerging growth poles.” There is no two ways about it; gainful employment will drastically reduce poverty. No one is under any illusion that only the government holds the recipe to fight unemployment and poverty. However, government needs to provide the enabling environment that will make private sector, the cottage industries, and the artisanal service providers to thrive. If there is significant improved electricity supply, it will reduce the cost of doing business drastically as many welders, hairdressers, barbers and other artisans will find it easier to ply their trade. Once the government can help bring down the cost of doing business through appropriate policies inclusive of low interest on loans, provision of critical social infrastructure and adequate security of lives and property, the problem of unemployment will abate and likewise poverty as the dependency ratio will also reduce. Government needs to be sincere in its effort at tackling unemployment and poverty. The numbers of government’s political appointees and their aides are too much, where money that should be used to provide jobs is used to serve them. Therefore, it is expedient for the three tiers of government to reduce their expenses, lower the cost of governance if they are actually sincere to the plight of Nigerians. Nigerians need to fight corruption, injustice, inequality and demand for their rights from government. They must hold government responsible for their plight, while the Nigeria Union of Journalists, an umbrella body of all practicing journalists as the fourth estate of the realm needs to serve as watch-dog to government. They should unravel what is being covered up by the political office holders and those saddled with the responsibility of managing the country’s economy. Different Non-Governmental Organizations must also wake up from their slumber and renew the fight against corruption and injustice. Nigerians must wake up and jointly fight and wage war against these menacing scourges in order to save the country from collapsing. Graduate unemployment must be tackled at all levels of government. The Nigeria Labour market must be made to be begging for employment not the graduates begging for employment. Before an undergraduate finishes from the University or polytechnic, the labour market should already provide a place to fix such person. By doing this, poverty rate will reduce and development will take place in Nigeria in earnest. Olayinka Alaya, is a journalist Writes from Ilorin via yeancahalaya@yahoo.com

When will the beautiful ones be born in Nigeria?

When will the beautiful ones be born in Nigeria? By Olayinka Alaya It is saddened that despite abundant resources Nigeria is endowed with, the country still complain of financial crisis. Recently the coordinating Minister of Economy who also doubled as the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the country's revenue had dwindled due to oil theft. According to her, the country was losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day to illegal bunkering and vandalism of oil pipelines. We all know Nigeria is a wasteful nation. Since the discovery of oil, all other real sectors of the economy such as Agriculture and Manufacturing that should serve as an avenue to earn revenue for the country had been neglected. It is quite surprising that despite the huge amount that has been spent by the Government to put in place security patrols on the coasts of the Niger Delta, oil bunkering has reached this stage. The Federal Government employed ex militants to secure oil facilities in the South South region, while the service of the OPC are also secured to provide security for oil pipelines in the South West. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps Officers were also trained in handling of arms and ammunitions in order to protect oil facilities. Even the service of the vigilante groups were not left out. All efforts geared towards securing the oil facilities. The question is despite securing the oil facilities, why are we still losing 400, 000 barrels of oil every day? I see expanse of lands un cultivated in Nigeria, I wonder why the country largely depend on oil. I see Nigeria as a very wasteful country, governed by leaders without purpose. I think it is the big oil thieves (politicians) that are impossible to apprehend responsible for oil theft and their cronies. Majority of these people are already rich to the extent that they can finance and feed the whole country without feeling the purse. I wonder what they are still looking for or has any one confirmed that they can spend the money in the hereafter or use it to bribe God in order to forgive their sins? It is here in Nigeria that a single man will own properties across the 36 states of the federation and across the continents. It is also here in Nigeria that some people are erecting mansions costing billions of naira and give their love ones as birthday gifts. There are many graduates with MA, Phd employed as drivers in Nigeria, while some that can't secure jobs turned themselves to armed robbers or political thugs. Where are we going to and when are we going to get it right? Do you think we need someone like Jerry of Ghana in Nigeria to clear the crops of corrupted, self-centred and bad leaders? Universities are producing graduates on yearly basis, labour market saturated, things turned upside down, parents are crying after investing a lot on their children, graduates are in the streets looking for jobs that are not there. Government Hospitals are filed with poor people who can't afford hospital bills, many of the patients have lost their lives while some are in critical conditions looking for #100,000 for their surgical operations. At the same time, we've some people spending government's money lavishly, extravagantly, wining and dining with public money. If we don't ask them today, God will surely ask them tomorrow. One thing is certain in life and it is death. We shall all die and account for our deeds before God. God save us in Nigeria from our leaders