YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA

Hers was a sad case, Bola had graduated from the prestigious University of Ibadan with a high flying grade, the most prized first class of excellence. Yet, after several years of graduation and re-enabling herself she was still unable to secure a good job that understood her worth and gained experience. Sadly, this is the tune played by most graduates in Nigeria except, the few who possess strong connections and have good luck, or better still favour from the divinity.

According to Wikipedia, unemployment is a situation in which able-bodied people, who are looking for a job cannot find one and voluntary unemployment is attributed to the individual’s decision whereas, involuntary unemployment exists because of the socioeconomic environment, including the market structure, government intervention and the level of aggregate demand in which individuals operate.

As Nigeria’s youth population grows, so does the unemployment rate of youths, the majority of unemployed people being females and rural dwellers.
Research studies According to the National Universities Commission (NUC), Nigeria presently has 43 federal universities, 52 state universities, and 79 private universities. By some estimates, Nigeria’s tertiary education and institutions produce up to 500,000 graduates every year and there are also Nigerians who study abroad who come home to seek jobs. Older Nigerians speak of a past when young graduates had jobs lined up even before they graduated.

The plague of unemployment has continued to increase despite the abundant human and natural resources available in the country. Chronic youth unemployment is evident in Nigeria, the streets are littered with youth hawkers who ordinarily should have found gainful employment in some enterprise.

The large number of youths who are unemployed is capable of undermining democratic practice as they constitute a serious threat if engaged by the political class in clandestine and criminal activities.
Unemployment in Nigeria has led to an increase in the crime rate and has resulted in Nigeria’s setbacks and problems. Nigeria remains crippled with a massive unemployment level that continues to exact a considerable toll on its socioeconomic prospects.

Causes of Unemployment

There are so many causes of unemployment in Nigeria, some of which are:

• Rapid rural-urban migration and an upgraded curriculum.
• Frustration, dejection, and desperation.
• Dependency on family members and friends, who have their problems to contend with.
• This precarious unemployment situation has left the youths in a vicious cycle of poverty that daily erodes their confidence and bright future.

The issue of unemployment can be salvaged or reduced in the following ways: 

• Encouraging creativity and dexterity as youths acquire different vocational skills thereby, making them job creators rather than job seekers.
• Vocational and technical education should be vigorously pursued.
• Provision of soft loans to the trained youths as take-off capital.
• Rural-urban migration should be checked: This can be achieved through the provision of essential social amenities that will make life in rural areas attractive to the youths. A mismanaged population growth is a recipe for disaster, as it would readily create an army of unemployed people who could turn to crime as a survival strategy.
• Public enlightenment campaigns on the dangers of population explosion and its adverse effect on national development.

These strategies need to be placed in the right sectors to foster the employability of young graduates and develop the nation at large.

Conclusion

The issue of unemployment is stiffing to any country, deliberate action through enlightenment, rural-urban migration management, and other strategies need to be put in place to manage the situation.

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Phoebe Nebechukwu

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