The Consequences of media praise singing

Topic: Consequences of media praise singing

Writer: Olayinka Alaya

            A broadcasting profession is embodied in what the psychologist calls 'avoidance conflict'. In other words, a journalist is standing in between the devil and the deep blue sea, staying where he is, is dangerous and moving elsewhere is as bad. Armed with the knowledge of the ethics of his profession,  he braves up writing things that could be offensive to the powers that be.

            He does this because the public has the right to know and the media professionals have not only the right to make known, but also a social responsibility that compels them to provide the public with the much-needed information.  All over the world, the role of the fourth estate of the realm is acknowledged.  Autocracy needs the mass media as much as government and politics.

            However, as a human institution, the mass media are subject to human frailties. Praise singing is an unethical issue in journalism. It goes beyond praising or commending somebody who deserves such to a propagandistic exaggeration of the person's achievement or actions. Often, praise singing isn't meant to inform,

educate, entertain or mobilize but to deceive by painting a wrong picture of a

situation.

            The slogan which was used by both national and state broadcasting stations in the dying months of military dispensation, ' who the cap fits, let him wear it', was repeatedly aired to sponsor Abacha as the right person as the prospective Head of State, media people were intimidated and induced to toe this line.

            As the 2015 general elections is nearer, federal and state governments had been mobilizing the media, particularly the broadcast to sing their praises again not minding the fulfillment of their electioneering campaign promises.

            Journalists are hedged in a field of sociological and environmental factors. These forces refer to such factors as societal norms, social group beliefs, socio-political climate, social order, material well being, law and order, all of which

also determine the nature of the news or programmes transmitted. While the broadcast professionals must take care of these varying interests clamouring for their attention, they still have to be socially responsible to their audience which needs nothing short of factual information.

            Praise singing which cuts across is more pronounced in the government-owned stations. This is because everything about affairs, whether administrative or editorial, is basically political. This evokes the over-abused relationship of the payer-of-the-piper and the dictator of the tune.

            Certain journalistic trends, beliefs or ethics have been altered and this

underscores the need for journalists to be more socially responsible than to indulge

in mere sycophancy. Therefore, it is advisable for government to allow both federal and state-owned media to operate independently, because the public needs undiluted information not diluted ones.

            A journalist needs initiatives to function within the ethical parameters so that he can blow the pipe without a discordant note. Professional journalists must not be compelled to praise sing and should not vested interest in the subject of praise singing.

            Praise singing must be condemned at all levels, government should stop using media to deceive the masses, whereas media should be used to disseminate factual information that would benefit the public. Democracy gives broadcast people room to operate and perform their obligations towards the public and expose the ills of individual, public or private, in the interest of the common good.

            Providing crucial information about the government is extremely important because it would enable the government know the opinions of the masses about its policies and activities and in return, relay the feedback to the government.

            The people's right to know of events of public importance particularly political matters constitutes the major task of the broadcast media. Therefore, media practitioners should desist from praise singing rather show the true picture of an individual or event.

                       

CLEANSING THE NIGERIA JUDICIARY FOR JUSTICE TO REIGN.

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA
TOPIC: CLEANSING THE NIGERIA JUDICIARY FOR JUSTICE TO REIGN.

             The public perception of the Nigeria Judiciary as the bastion of hope for the hopeful and the common man in the society has been dampened due to the alleged increasing rate of corruption in this arm of government that should be more concerned about the plight of the people and rescue the masses from oppression, hunger and ignorance.
            Many scholars and public Affairs Analysts had postulated that the phenomenon of corruption in the judiciary is gradually inching into reality considering what is happening in our society today. A situation whereby a man that steals a goat is jailed for six months or years, while someone that embezzled or siphoned public funds worth billions of naira were bailed with a fine and walking the street without fear. The scholars, however, are of the opinion that it would be difficult for the judiciary to be independent and fight corruption when some group of people is treated as sacred cows and untouchable.
            It would be agreed that in a corrupted society like ours, when all are bathing and swimming in corruption, the judiciary that is supposed to interpret the law, curb corruption and serve as bastion of hope for a common, would also be exposed to corruption and as a result, the society becomes lawless.           

            Some scholars also believed that the mode of appointment of judicial officials and their relationship with the political class also contributed to the abnormally in the disposition of justice. A situation whereby, due processes are not followed in the appointment of Judges, Magistrates, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria calls for concern.       

According to a Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Ilorin, Professor AbdulWahab Egbewole, the problem of corruption in the judiciary is as a result of the mode of appointment of judicial officers in Nigeria which today is guided by nepotism, ethnicity, promotion that lack merit, who you know and not what you know as well as god fatherism.
          Professor Egbewole stated further that, for the judiciary to assist the society, it must cleanse itself of corrupt elements. The corrupt elements that have no business in the judiciary in the first place, pointing out that from the present composition of the Nigeria Judicial Council, it is not possible to get the kind of corrupt free judiciary of our dream.
          It is however pertinent to say that judiciary must be independently minded and determine issues brought before them honestly, dispassionately and in accordance with the law. Section six of the constitution of Nigeria says the judiciary must be ready to take all cases brought before it.
           Professor Egbewole, also suggested that if corruption must be exterminated from the judiciary in Nigeria, the present composition and structure of the National Judicial Council (NJC) must be given a fundamental surgical operation.

A judge must be able to sense danger of corruption and run away from it. All decisions by the judiciary must be according to the law and if any extraneous factor like filial relation, monetary consideration or social influence has a place in the determination of issues brought before the court, the judiciary will lose its potency, relevance and place in the governmental scheme and indeed, the society at large.
           In order to discharge its function as the last hope of the common man, the judiciary must ensure probity, honesty and impartiality. In the discharge of this onerous responsibility duty, the Nigeria judiciary is also expected to act promptly because justice delayed I'd justice denied and should stop slowly grinding the wheel of justice so that justice will not hit the rock.
              Any judicial officer caught for corruption he or she should be tried and jailed without any option of fine.
              Government at all levels should look into the issue of funding the judiciary and make them self accounting as against the present regime of having to go to the Executive for all their needs. In fact, the separation of power between the three arms of government needs to be effective. One arm must not depend on another arm; they must work independently if truly, we want to have a better Nigeria.
              Nigeria judiciary must also be the harbinger of hope for the big and the small, the powerful and the powerless, the hopeful and the hopeless, the privileged and the disadvantaged.

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