When some of us were in secondary school, a
grade one WAEC certificate will make you
unacceptable for employment in a Nigerian bank
and most companies in Nigeria.
The thinking then was that with grade one, the
holder will in a matter of one year gain admission
into the university. There was no need to waste
resources training him. Those who got jobs easily in
banks in those days were WAEC certificate holders
of grade three. Also during the same period, a
degree from any Nigerian university was a precious
possession. Employers of labour in Nigeria
questioned many of the certificates obtained by
those who went abroad especially to the USA to
study.
While at the University of Benin in the late 70s to
early 80s, a lecturer who had his PhD from an
American university was forced out of our class
because he could not stand the demand for
advanced macro-economics. She entered the class
one fateful Monday and said; ‘You know all of us
cannot be good in calculation.
Before she finished the sentence, the class rose in
unison and asked her what she was doing there if
she could not express her know-how in figures.
That day, the class met with the HOD and she was
removed from the class.
Twenty-five years down the line, the situation has
changed dramatically and the reverse is the case.
Banks are now asking for second class upper or
first class degrees as minimum job entry
requirement.
They are also demanding that such graduates
should not be older than 26 years. Now, Nigerian
graduates are not even acceptable for employment
in Nigeria. American degrees that were looked down
upon 25 years ago are what most employers are
now searching for.
It is not that there are no jobs in the country; it is
the lack of the required skills that has prevented
many Nigerians from accessing jobs. There are
several banks and companies employing people
with requisite skills from abroad.
The question is; how did we come so low in value
while others have improved so much? So much that
jobs are now only available to relations of the dead?
What a tragedy! Each year, Nigerian leaders tout
figures of economic growth of about six or seven
per cent, but the level of unemployment keeps
rising by the day.
Perhaps, many have thought that the unemployment
situation was exaggerated by media hype until
Saturday when 4,000 job openings in Nigeria
Immigration Service, attracted over 60,000
applicants for a written test in Abuja alone.
Maybe the Minister of Internal Affairs wanted this
government to see the magnitude of the
unemployment issue in Nigeria, by allowing all the
applicants to show up the same day for the test. Or
how else can it be explained that any reasonable
employer will gather that number in a stadium to
write a test? Did the minister have any sense of
crowd behaviour?
The unfortunate event brings to mind the 2012
lamentation of President Goodluck Jonathan. On that
occasion, he had lamented the growing
unemployment situation in the country stating that it
may lead to some social unrest in the near future.
Every Nigerian, in low or high places, knows this
simple fact. This government has not shown to the
people anything that will suggest that it is tackling
unemployment.
What Nigerians need to see is how far this
administration has gone to tackle the problem.
Since the days of the ill-fated Structural Adjustment
Programme, or the Shehu Shagari Austerity
Measures of 1982, unemployment has been a
phenomenon that has refused to go away in Nigeria.
Unemployment in Nigeria has become one of the
most critical problems the country is facing. Many
years of corruption, mismanagement of the
economy, civil war, military rule, etc., have hindered
economic development of the country. Nigeria is
endowed with diverse and infinite resources, both
human and material.
However, years of negligence and adverse policies
have led to the under-utilisation of these resources.
This is one of the primary causes of unemployment
in the country.
Analysis of employment data shows that the rate of
new entrants into the labour market has not been
uniform. The rate was on the increase from 2007 to
2009 but declined significantly between 2009 and
2010. The rate increased again from 2010 to date.
Within the period, there has been an average of
about 1.8 million new entrants into the active labour
market per year.
In 2011, Nigeria’s estimated population stood at
164.3 million, 92.3 million are said to be
economically active, labour force – 67.25 million,
employed – 51.18 million, unemployed – 16.07
million and newly employed – 2.13 million. 2010
statistics showed that about 10 million Nigerians
were unemployed in Nigeria as at March, 2009. The
2011 survey showed that the national
unemployment rate is 23.9 per cent compared to
21.1 per cent in 2010 and 19.7 per cent in 2009.
The Federal Government since 2009 has been
singing the tune of tackling unemployment but so
far, there has been no serious sign of improvement.
Today in Nigeria, almost half of 15-24 year olds
living in urban areas are jobless, yet reducing
unemployment and enhancing economic
productivity are top priorities for the National
Economic Management team.
It is sad that year in, year out, billions are budgeted
for recurrent with little for capital expenditure that
will lead to job creation. Fortunately, the buck stops
at the President’s table.
He is the one who has the key to unlock and
unleash the nation’s economic potentials for the
benefit of all Nigerians. The President has no one to
cry to other than putting on a thinking cap and
getting the job of the office of the President done
creditably.
With what happened that Saturday, Nigeria is ripe
for a change, a revolution. Who will cast the first
stone for the drum of revolution to sound?
No comments:
Post a Comment