Causes of Unemployment in Nigeria
Nigeria, one of the most populous black nations, has become a marketplace for other economies. The country has become a consuming nation, rather than sustaining itself with industrialization. The inability of the government to provide enabling environment for manufacturing increases our dependent on finished products imported from other countries and most importantly, plays a major role in the rising unemployment rate in the country.
Promoting economic growth and development is imperative of every government. Hence, Nigeria needs high levels of growth across critical sectors of the economy to resolve its unemployment issues.
Economic stability is highly important in resolving the unemployment crisis in Nigeria. In the onset of the recession in 2015, 8 out of 100 persons were unemployed. Subsequently, in 2018 the population of unemployed and underemployed persons rose to 20.9 million and 18.2 million, respectively.
The number of people entering the labour market outnumbers the jobs created annually. About 4.8 million people joined the labour market between 2015 and 2018 but the number of jobs created was not commensurate (625,000 jobs).
TERRASKILLS LEARNING SYSTEMS LIMITED conducted a poll to get people’s views on the causes of unemployment in Nigeria. The outcome of the poll showed that people believe that the government is to blame for the exponential rise of unemployment. The survey showed that 48.1% of respondents hold the government accountable for the rise in unemployment.
Governments’ role in the rise of unemployment is enormous. Studies have shown that the government has a major role in determining the successful reduction of unemployment rates. These studies highlighted the following as the roles of government in the unemployment crisis;
Poor Management of the Economy
The misuse of the country’s resources has led to crippling economic conditions across the country. The country’s wealth translates to the people’s wealth because a wealthy nation where resources abound will have citizens that can fend for themselves and create jobs for others.
Poor Investment Climate
Failure of government to create an enabling environment for sustainable growth hinders the creation of job opportunities by the private sector.
A wrong Approach to Employment Creation
Wrong employment policies of the government contribute immensely to the unemployment crises in Nigeria.
Poor Infrastructure
Poor infrastructural development in Nigeria impedes business growth. When private sectors do not grow maximally, they cannot provide more jobs.
Even with the unfavorable business environments, poor policy structure and framework for implementation, the private sector is struggling to sustain business and create employment opportunities. Although, faced with these harsh realities, innovations and the development of wealth persist. The private sector continues to expand and to provide employment. However, the number of jobs created in these conditions are not enough to reduce the unemployment rate in Nigeria.
The poll conducted by TERRASKILLS LEARNING SYSTEMS LIMITED also indicated that skills mismatch (29.6 %) is also one of the major causes of unemployment.
Apart from the lack of an enabling business environment, skills mismatch has been described as one of the major challenges in curbing unemployment by the private sector. Most of the jobs the private sector advertises differ from the courses studied in higher institutions.
Technology is the order of the day and thus dictates the types of private-sector jobs available. What private sector employers see is a major disconnection in the demands of the industry and the products of higher institutions. This is why we have a large number of graduates not fitting the job available.
The levels of skills mismatch in Nigeria calls for an all-inclusive engagement. Rather than blame the government, young Nigerian graduates should understand the urgency this needs and take the bull by the horn to get trained in requisite skills needed in today’s workplace.
Conclusion/Recommendation
Government role in curbing unemployment cannot be disputed but as a people, we must also learn to create value for ourselves and recognize opportunities when they present themselves.
Rather than being complacent, we must identify ourselves as part of the problem. Identifying with the problem gives us room to find solutions and one of the best solutions to the current unemployment crisis is reskilling. Today’s jobs are majorly technology-driven; are you tech-savvy? Are you prepared to give value when called upon?
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The Productive You: How you can leverage on Information Technology to Find or Create Opportunities amidst COVID-19.
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