Tackling Youth Unemployment Through Vocational Skills Acquisition

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Tackling youth unemployment through vocational skills acquisition

| Print | E-mail Written by Clement IdokoMonday, 08 March 2010

Minister for Youth Development, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, being briefed on the state of

work at Owode-Egba National Youth Development Centre.

Recently, the Minister for Youth Development, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi,

visited Obafemi Owode to inspect the Owode Egba Youth Development

Centre, one of the eight youth training centres his ministry is constructing

across the six geopolitical zones in the country.Clement Idoko writes on the

job creation efforts of the ministry.

IN the serene and rustic community of Owode-Egba, Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria, lies an expanse of land of about 56hectares, mapped out by the Federal Government to boost its youth empowerment initiative.The project is the Youth Development Centre, one of the eight designated youth centresestablished by the present administration as a multi-pronged approach at addressing the

challenges of youth unemployment presently facing the country.

According to reports, about 10 million Nigerian school-age children are out of school. Some,who are not so lucky, are engaged in exploitative labour or sexually abused. It‟s a commonphenomenon to see Nigerian underage boys and girls daily on the streets in major towns,including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, and on highways, hawking items likegroundnut, purportedly to complement the efforts of their „parents‟, or at best, masters. Thosenot in these categories, of course, are ready tools available to politicians for use as thugs andscoundrels during election periods. Little wonder the rate of armed robbery and ethno-religiouscrises has been on the increase despite efforts of security agencies at maintaining law andorder, and protecting lives and property of the citizenry.

The Minister for Youth Development, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, who exudes passion inhis frantic efforts to address these challenges of the youth, once remarked that the magnitudeof the youth employment challenge was causing the government a great deal of concern, as itis estimated that about 4.5 million youths, mostly educated, are entering the labour marketannually. He said in order to prevent the already unusually high level of youth unemploymentand underemployment rates from getting higher, the government had to take urgentameliorative action.The Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan (NIYEAP) prepared by his ministry, whichprovides a multisectoral approach to the issue of youth joblessness, had already beenapproved by the Federal Executive Council.Thus, the Federal Government is currently constructing eight standard Youth DevelopmentCentres across the six geo-political zones of the country, considered as a pet project of

Senator Olasunkanmi, to massively equip the youth with useful trade and entrepreneurshipskills necessary to elevate them from their present condition of poverty and joblessness, to avibrant and entrepreneurial youth, ready to contribute to the development of the nation.While on a site inspection of the Owode Egba Youth Development Centre in Ogun State, lastweek, the Minister said the eight centres which are all in advanced stages of completion wouldadequately tackle the challenges of youth unemployment in Nigeria.The Owode Egba Youth Development Centre, occupying about 56 hectares of land, isdeveloped with various skill acquisition and entrepreneurship sections, including AutomobileWorkshop, Agricultural Production and Processing Section, Integrated Sports Complex,

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Tailoring and Hair-dressing, Clinic, Computer and Information Technology Centres, amongothers.Interestingly, equipment for tailoring, hair-dressing, mechanic, as well as other trades for thetraining of the youth have already been acquired, as the Minister was conducted round thelarge site housing this gigantic project. The site inspection was conducted on Thursday, 11February, 2010, by the Chief Youth Development Officer and Principal of the Centre, Mr.

Momoh Idris Olugbenga, in company of His Royal Highness, Chief O. Olufemi, the Baale ofOwode-Egba.In view of the epileptic nature of power supply and generation in the country, the EducationTrust Fund (ETF) donated a big 500 KVA power generator for unfettered electricity to powerthe equipment at the Centre when it commences full operation.The road networks within the nook and cranny of the Centre were fully asphalted with guttersneatly constructed to give the environment trendy a fantastic outlook.Senator Olasunkanmi, speaking with newsmen at the end of the inspection, disclosed that theyouth centre, with the capacity to accommodate about 360 to 400 students at a time, wouldsoon be commissioned as various construction work were at various stages of completion. Hestated that the Federal Government had in 2008, approved N300 million for the Owode YouthDevelopment project, with an additional grant of N150 million in 2009 budget, and that the

funds had been properly utilised. He said: “I can assure you that as we are here now, work isongoing and almost at this stage in all the other seven centres, and in the next two weeks, wewill also be in the North for the same site inspection”. The minister said the training programmes involving about 35 different vocational andentrepreneurship trades would be for everybody; graduates, undergraduates and out of schoolyouths. This, according to him, would empower the youth with basic skills to be self-employedor employers of labour; hence a drastic reduction in the growing army of unemployed youth inthe country.He commended the work done so far, saying, “I am impressed with the level and quality of work done and I‟m sure that in another two months, we should begin to put this place intomaximum use. He further disclosed that the government had evolved a Public/Private SectorPartnership to manage the Youth Development projects in order for them to be self-

sustaining.The minister also noted that the move to arrest youth joblessness was to minimise the risks tonational security and national development posed by rising youth unemployment as alreadyevidenced in increased youth militancy, violent crimes and socially delinquent behaviour,including increase in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

According to reports, Nigeria‟s unemployment rate of over 11per cent is higher than theaverage rate of 9.5 per cent for Sub-Saharan Africa in 2004. The major characteristics of this

jobless group are youthfulness and their high-level education. While the youth account forroughly one-third of the labour force, they account for between 60-75 per cent of theemployed.According to official National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, in 2004, young people agedbetween 15 to 24 years accounted for 52.9 per cent of the total number of unemployed

persons; those aged 25 to 44 accounted for 41.1 per cent of the unemployed; implying thatthose two age groups accounted for 94 per cent of the total unemployed persons.It was also estimated in 2008 that about 300,000 youths entered the labour market with tertiaryeducation, about 1 million with secondary education, about 2.5 million with primary education,and about 0.8 million with no education or as drop-outs for, making a total of about 4.5 million,and about 13.5 to 14 million 2009-2011.The scale of the unemployment crisis is highlighted by anecdotal evidence which suggest thatcurrently, an estimated 60 per cent of the 80 per cent Nigerian youth population areunemployed. Thus, the World Bank recent report on Growth and Employment in Nigeria



covering 1999 to 2006 affirmed that growth performance had not responded to theemployment aspirations of its population as a whole, especially the younger generation. Thereport noted that job creation had not grown in proportion with the labour force even thoughthere were slight improvements in family agriculture.The Minister, speaking recently at the public presentation of the final Report of the NationalYouth Employment Templates in Abuja said the World Bank study also recommended specific

interventions to create jobs, taking into account, boosting of labour demand, improved laboursupply, promotion of globally competitive economic sectors, skills development andliberalisation of trade policies.He said: “The language all over the continent is the creation of specific job creationprogrammes to take the millions of our youth out of poverty. This position of the World Bankpanel was also recently echoed by the International Labor Organisation, which in its recentappraisal of world job situation urged member nations to create specific programmes toengage the youth in one vocation/trade or the other. Such interventions, the ILOrecommended, was the solution to the ever-widening challenges of joblessness worldwide”. But, one unique thing about the youth centres is that they are not some of those elitistprogrammes which yield little results, but are rural-based and more of community developmentprogrammes. More importantly is the enthusiasm with which the people of the community

welcomed the establishment of the centre as expressed by the community leader, the Baale ofOwode Egba, chief O. Olufemi. He said: “We are expecting the Federal Government to comeand start making use of this place. We know the importance and the youths are eager to comeand start doing something here.”

Youth Unemployment In Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth most populous country in the world with a population

of 154, 729,000 citizens. Our nominal GDP is $207. 116 billion and we have a nominal per capita income of $1,4011.

Nigeria also has the second largest economy in Africa . If I may ask, is this country not blessed? Yet, it is still plagued

by youth unemployment which had been one of our major problems in recent years. Both government and the private

sector had discussed this issue at forums and conferences but have not found a solution to it. Its continued existence

had been linked to lack of power supply and financial empowerment for youths. Youth unemployment in Nigeria is

mostly referred to as graduate unemployment and this means that only the skilled youths are seen as unemployed

while the unskilled youths are not given any consideration. However, youths are not a homogeneous group and their

employment prospects differ according to numerous factors ranging from region to gender to schooling.

As I write this paper, there are thousands of youths in Nigeria that are unemployed and it is as if there won‟t be a

solution to this problem.

THE EFFECTS OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ON NIGERIA

Various crimes and social vices in Nigeria had been on the increase since mid – 1990s2 and they include prostitution,

internet scam, political violence, kidnapping, militancy (in the Niger Delta), drug trafficking, armed robbery etc. The

continued existence of these vices has been linked to the scarcity of jobs in Nigeria .

Youth unemployment in Nigeria has eaten deep into the agile and intelligent youths who despite the lack of jobs

cannot do without activities. They get involved in crime, juvenile delinquencies, cultism, indecent partying and other

social vices. I see a future where the agility of Nigerian youths would become effective productive resources to develop



a Nigeria which shall be a desirable country for all to live in.

In this essay, I discuss the effects of youth unemployment on the average man in a local community and on the

security of the entire nation. I then identify the foundational causes of youth unemployment in Nigeria, and proffer

youth-led solutions which I am convinced if implemented will set the pace for other countries.

I propose a progressive foundation: “Life Investors Foundation” whose aim is to invest in lives to reap the profits later by training youths who will become world-class sought for employable graduates. The methodology to be employed is

to capture youths at the early stages of reaching an employable age (15 to 24). They include young school leavers and

undergraduates, who will be initiated into the work field early, helping them to gain enough experience and

knowledge of the value systems and principles of the work environment and learn the skills needed for effective

productivity before completing their...

Prostitution, for instance, rose during the mid – 1990s with female Nigerian youths being trafficked to Italy.3 Internet

scam had also been on the increase in recent years. Political violence, kidnapping and other vices had also been

increasing recently.

These vices have a negative effect on the country because they have been the fear of most foreign investors and they

are also giving the country a bad. THE EFFECT OF UNEMPLOYMENT ON YOUTH”

1. INTRODUCTION

Unemployment describes the condition of people who are without jobs; unemployment is a global trend that mostly

occurs in developing countries of the world, which not only affects them socially but also psychologically.

“Unemployment is one of the developmental problems that face every developing economy in the 21st Century.

International statistics portray that industrial and service workers living in developing regions account for about two-

thirds of the unemployed” (Patterson et al, 2006).

In Nigeria accurate unemployment rates are difficult to obtain and generally mean little in a society where many who

work are marginally employed and where begging is a socially accepted occupation. „The Nigerian economy since the

attainment of political independence in 1960 has undergone fundamental structural changes. The domestic structural

shifts have however not resulted in any significant and sustainable economic growth and development. Available data

show that the Nigerian economy grew relatively in the greater parts of the 1970s, with respect to the oil boom of the1970s; the outrageous profits from the oil boom encouraged wasteful expenditures in the public sector dislocation of

the employment factor and also distorted the revenue bases for policy planning. This among many other crises

resulted in the introduction of the structural adjustment programme (SAP) in 1986 and the current economic

reforms. The core objective of the economic structural reform is a total restructuring of the Nigerian economy in the

face of population explosion‟ (Douglason et al, 2006).

Nigeria is considered as the most populous country in Africa and the eight most populous country in the world with a

population of 154,729,000 citizens; with a nominal GDP of 5,207,116 billion and a nominal per capital income of $1,

4011, Nigeria also has the second...

Tackling unemployment through entrepreneurial developmentby NIGERIAN CIVIL RIGHT MOVEMENT on Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 8:13am

Nowadays, it is common knowledge that employment creation is no longer the prerogative of government but rather, a joint

effort between the public and private sectors.

Perceptive analysts, nonetheless, believe that government ought to provide the enabling environment to stimulate

entrepreneurial spirit in the nation's teeming population of the youth, which is its most productive force.

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These days, it has become a commonplace to see youths roam the streets in search of employment that are simply not

there. Frustrations have bred in their ranks, with many resorting to criminality in order to survive.

President Goodluck Jonathan himself acknowledges this when he said recently that, unemployment, especially among the

youths, was a major challenge for his administration.

"Unemployment among our youths is one of our biggest challenges. The time has come to create jobs (and) lay a new

foundation for Nigeria's economic growth," he said.

He explained that it was because of this challenge that the Federal Government budgeted 50 billion naira the current fiscal

year to tackle unemployment.

According to him, "the money is meant to encourage young people with creative ideas so that they can generate jobs and

employ others".

Experts, over the years, have tried to examine some of the causes of unemployment, identifying some as seeming

inconsistencies in government's fiscal policies, inadequate access to finance by entrepreneurs, besides the global economic

meltdown."Decades of non-inclusive policies have alienated the vast majority of Nigerians, reducing the country into a steam of

extreme poverty and ravaging civil and political conflicts," said an economist, Dr Joseph Ibidapo.

He traced much of Nigeria's current economic problems back to the historic overdependence on oil, to the negligence of all

other sectors, especially agriculture, which hitherto absolved a sizeable proportion of the nation's workforce.

Nevertheless, economic analysts insist that a huge magnitude of businesses in Nigeria plays itself out in the informal sector

of the economy, reflecting the measure of Nigerians' inherent entrepreneurial capacities and spirits.

They point out that the percentage of unemployment has risen to such a point that some youths now engage themselves in

crimes as kidnapping, armed robbery and terrorism, thus killing and maiming innocent citizens and engendering general

insecurity in the society.

Moreover, they identify the major hindrance to entrepreneurial growth in the country to inadequate access to finance by

budding entrepreneurs, coupled with the absence of a viable credit policy which addressed their specific needs.

No doubt, the lack of basic infrastructure such as roads and electricity are not helping matters, talk less of lack of adequate

vocational/ skill training centres for rural youth and the absence of a regulatory environment that encouraged innovative

business development.

For some skilled youths, however, their handicap had been lack of access to resources and opportunities to engage them

meaningfully.

A case in point is Mr. Ogbonaya Peter, an agricultural engineer, who is skilled in the manufacture of cassava-peeling

machines.

"I am a trained agriculturist but unfortunately, there is no money to start up an agricultural farm or buy materials to make

my brand of cassava peeling machines

"I have approached the banks for loans but the interest they are charging and other conditions attached are not customer-

friendly at all."



Determined not to starve, however, Peter has resorted to doing menial jobs for some money to supplement stipends from

family members.

Mr. Paul Johnson is another entrepreneur, who believes that with some little support from government, his business could

expand to the level of employing others.

According to Peter, "let government come to our aid and assist us in making policies that will enable us access loans easily

and without difficulties".

Another problem for budding entrepreneurs, he said, was the unfriendly taxation regime I most states of the federation.

"What we pay as taxes is too high and does not make room for own development as young entrepreneurs."

Mr Mohammed Aminu, a business administrator and analyst said that micro finance banks were introduced in the country to

assist people at the grass roots but unfortunately had not discharged their obligations satisfactorily.

Specifically, he urged President Goodluck Jonathan and his economic team to critically explore ways of advancing the

economy by initiating policies that encouraged entrepreneurship in the country.

"Government should remove all the stringent conditions on borrowing and provide the enabling environment to encouragethe individual and private sector operators to thrive and create more jobs.''

He noted that human factor was critical to the development of Nigeria's economy, stressing that the problem government

faced on its part was getting the right knowledge that would advance the society.

"For the entrepreneurial business to thrive in Nigerian, the power sector, research system, justice system, information

system and policy formulation methods must undergo reforms.

"If government fixes power and tackles insecurity, the interest rate on borrowing will automatically drop by some

percentage.

Mr. Mustapha Abu, a political economist, said that creating the right environment for the private sector to flourish was a

viable way to deepen the nation's democracy, while also curtailing youth restiveness and the attendant insecurity in the

country.

Abu said that the private sector in developed economies of the world employed the bulk of nations' workforce, warning that

if the business climate continued to work against the sector's interest in Nigeria, then unemployment would continue to rise.

He urged that more efforts needed to be made by government and the financial regulators to enable entrepreneurs have

easier access to funds and credits at manageable interest rates, so that in turn, they would employ more Nigerians,

especially the youths.

Only on Oct. 11, President Jonathan unveiled the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (You WiN!) Programme.

It is a collaborative project of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and the

Ministry of Youth Development, with funding support from the private sector, the World Bank and the Directorate for

International Development (DFID).

Officials say that the programme primarily aims at assisting young Nigerians with entrepreneurial skills to develop their

enterprises. Under it, over 3,600 youths will be financially assisted to actualize their entrepreneurial ideas and plans.

"When we prepared the budget for this year, we had some funds injected to the tune of N50 billion that will focus on youth

empowerment; which every year, we will up with different patterns".



It is expected that the programme will create between 80,000 to 110,000 sustainable jobs over the next four years, officials

say.

Some analysts express the viewpoint that the unemployment rate in the country had become embarrassingly high, hence

institutions like the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and other

agencies connected with promoting employment needed to be rejuvenated for better performance.

Such calls, perhaps informed the decision of the Federal Government to break up the Ministry Information and

Communication recently.

"It is to also make sure that we focus on youth empowerment through creating a lot of jobs for the youth through ICT,"

Jonathan said.

While such measures at the federal level appear salutary, observers insist that the initiatives must be replicated at state and

local government levels, so as to make their effect far-reaching.

They also advocate for a change of attitude by Nigerians towards entrepreneurial development if the transformation agenda

of the present administration must be effective.Mr. Abubakar Ikhaghe, a legal practitioner, recalled that there was the global consensus that young people were the

greatest asset any nation could rely upon for any meaningful development because of their productive capacities.

Ikhaghe said the underdevelopment of this demographic section of the populace portended huge dangers for overall

national wellbeing.

Many stakeholders agree with Ikhaghe and insist that the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) target to reduce poverty

substantially by 2015 may remain an illusion if unemployment persisted and is not tackled head-on by the government.

It is imperative; therefore, that Nigerians must begin to make commitments to the promotion of entrepreneurial culture and

mind-set, while skill acquisition, self-employment, economic independence and self-actualization, especially among the

youth in Nigeria must be encouraged.

Solution to Unemployment, Poverty And Infrastructural ProblemsF. E. Ogbimi26 June 2011

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OPINION

F. E. Ogbimi, writing from Technology Planning and Development Unit, Obafemi Awolow University, Ile- Ife is of the opinion that high-intensity learning is a sine qua non for rapid industrialization of Nigeria...

Millions of suffering Nigerians voted for you believing that you will not fail them; you will bring the desiredchanges. You must not fail! You must initiate an innovation for the transformation of Nigeria and satisfying

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the yearnings of the many millions of Nigerians looking up to you. Innovation is exceptional performance;it comes from combining simple known facts in a manner that has not been done before to bring about adevelopment that has a very wide implication or applications. My article is a contribution towards initiatingthe innovation that Nigeria needs most today.

The injunction, think before you act, warns us that we cannot solve a problem we do not understand. This

implies that we cannot manage the economy well if we do not understand how it works. The most seriousproblem confronting Nigeria is the unproductive nature of the economy. Nigeria has an artisan/craft-agricultural economy which produces only agricultural goods. The Nigerian economy is a pre-industrialised one. All pre-industrialised economies are characterized by low productivity and poverty. Allindustrialised economies, on the other hand, are characterized by high productivity and high standard ofliving. A pre-industrialised economy is indeed a one-sector one, the built-up infrastructure and the UNstandard approach to identifying the sectors of an economy notwithstanding. The industrialised economyis a multi-sector one.

There is no short route to progress. The European and Asians toiled for 2000 (two thousand) years andlonger to transform their economies from agricultural ones into industrialised ones. It is therefore foolishfor anyone to believe that an economy can be transformed overnight through foreign investmentsincluding foreign direct investments (FDIs) and mass importation. A wise nation takes the lessons of

history seriously. The Americans tried mass-importation from Europe and later realized that it was a futileeffort (Moore, 1801).

Industrialisation transforms an economy from an undesirable low competence status (characterized byprimitive agricultural activities, mass unemployment , poverty, high crime wave, etc.) into a highcompetence status(characterized by many manufacturing activities, low unemployment, affluence, lowcrime wave, etc.). Mere capital investments, including FDIs do not promote sustainable economic growthand industrialization (SEGI). This is because, competence is not a commodity that can be purchasedinstantaneously when a critical shortage is real; competence being the sum of knowledge, experienceand the ability to learn is uniquely related to persons (Brautaset, 1990).

Industrialisation is a learning and capability-building process. Every man and every woman are born ascrying babies. The healthy baby soon begins to babble, that is, learns how to talk, acquires the

capabilities to talk and then talks. Every other capability including those for producing the modern goodsNigerians and other Africans import is acquired through learning. In all learning processes, the rate ofprogress depends very strongly on the rate of learning. High-intensity learning leads to rapid progressand vice versa. Western and Eastern nations learnt very slowly and suffered for 2000 year and longerbefore transforming their economies into modern ones. Theirs were societies without governments anddevelopment was private sector-led. No individual or nation is born with advanced production skills. Alltypes of societies (communist/socialists, capitalist, military, feudal, etc.) must learn and acquire theneeded capabilities for solving the problems confronting them, if they are to be free of want. Daniel Lee(1852), wrote that progress implies an advancement from things known to things unknown - an addition tothe aggregate wisdom of the world. Hence except a society makes systematic efforts towards increasingknowledge, progress is impracticable. Schumpeter (1934), wrote that development is internal to a nation.A backward nation waiting and begging foreigners to come and invest in it so that it can achieve SEGI isonly wasting time and other resources and revelling in the bliss of ignorance.

Following a long-term learning and accumulation of critical quantities of knowledge, skills andcompetences (KSCs), an economy achieves a technological maturity or technological puberty. Trueeconomic diversification follows. True diversification is the economic status at which many sectors of aneconomy become developed and efficient. Diversification is not about investing in oil and non-oil sectorsin an artisan-agricultural economy. Diversification is one of the fruits or aftermath of industrial maturity ortechnological puberty. The development of adequate and reliable infrastructure is also a fruit ofindustrialization. An artisan economy like Nigeria's cannot and will not build adequate and reliableinfrastructure. Thus, the level of industrialization of any nation determines the quality and reliability of its



infrastructure. Nigeria must stop wasting huge amounts of resources in the futile attempt to generatingelectric power through the importation of turbines and transformers.

Britain experienced mass unemployment for centuries. However, when the nation achieved Industrialmaturity, there were not enough adult males and females to fill the job openings that were available.Industrialists had to resort to employing children to work for many hours. This is the basis of the

scandalous child labour associated with the early phase of the European industrialization (Dent, 1975).Again, the level of industrialization of a nation determines the type of unemployment it experiences. So, itis industrialisation Nigeria needs to promote to address mass unemployment, poverty, high crime waveand infrastructural problems. Putting this figuratively, we say, whereas industrialization is the disease,mass unemployment and high crime wave, poverty and poor infrastructure are the symptoms of thedisease.

Relevant Links

West Africa

Nigeria

Children

Labour

To promote rapid industrialization, we need to correspondingly promote high-intensity learning

and speedy accumulation of KSCs. Education and training are the instruments for promoting

high-intensity Youth Unemployment In Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth most populous country in the world with a populationof 154, 729,000 citizens. Our nominal GDP is $207. 116 billion and we have a nominal per capita income of $1,4011.Nigeria also has the second largest economy in Africa . If I may ask, is this country not blessed? Yet, it is still plagued by youth unemployment which had been one of our major problems in recent years. Both government and the privatesector had discussed this issue at forums and conferences but have not found a solution to it. Its continued existencehad been linked to lack of power supply and financial empowerment for youths. Youth unemployment in Nigeria is

mostly referred to as graduate unemployment and this means that only the skilled youths are seen as unemployed while the unskilled youths are not given any consideration. However, youths are not a homogeneous group and theiremployment prospects differ according to numerous factors ranging from region to gender to schooling.

As I write this paper, there are thousands of youths in Nigeria that are unemployed and it is as if there won‟t be asolution to this problem.

THE EFFECTS OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ON NIGERIA

Various crimes and social vices in Nigeria had been on the increase since mid – 1990s2 and they include prostitution,internet scam, political violence, kidnapping, militancy (in the Niger Delta), drug trafficking, armed robbery etc. Thecontinued existence of these vices has been linked to the scarcity of jobs in Nigeria .

Prostitution, for instance, rose during the mid – 1990s with female Nigerian youths being trafficked to Italy.3 Internetscam had also been on the increase in recent years. Political violence, kidnapping and other vices had also beenincreasing recently.

These vices have a negative effect on the country because they have been the fear of most foreign investors and they

are also giving the country a bad.learning. Anyone who either acquires theoretical knowledge from

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educational institution, alone, or acquires a small quantity of practical skills from artisan workshop ortechnical/vocational institutions, alone, is a mediocre. The versatile individual is one who acquires boththeoretical and practical skills in great depth and breath. To facilitate a rapid industrialization in Nigeria,Nigeria must do the following: 1) Promote high-intensity education at all levels. 2) Give training outsideeducational campuses equal emphasis as education. All graduates of tertiary education should be trainedto acquire complementary practical skills in artisans/craftsmen workshops, factory floor work settings,offices and all other places where skill-acquisition opportunities abound. All university science andengineering graduates should be trained for 4-5 years to know how the things Nigeria imports work andhow they are made. The graduates of this training, the industrialization vanguards, should be challengedto build and maintain our infrastructure. 3) Nigeria should adopt full employment policy; let everyone beinvolved in learning or applying his or her knowledge and skills in production. All youths not in schoolsnow ride Chinese motor cycles or wander aimlessly in towns and cities. Unemployment is a nationalwaste (Ogbimi, 2006). The apprenticeship system is dead in Nigeria. All those in training must be paidadequate stipend to lead a normal life and to maintain high interest and discipline in the trainingprogrammes. Reduce the number and value of contracts awarded by government drastically to promotedirect labour and to fund the proposed learning activities.

The training programme is to link the educational sector with the rest of the economy more directly. Moreimportantly, the training programmes are to channel the theoretical knowledge generated in educationalinstitutions into the rest of the economy for production purposes. The three steps listed above wouldinitiate the desired innovation. The impact of the innovation would be evident immediately. The Nigerianeconomy would approach industrialisation when 20 million university science and engineering graduatescomplete 4-5 years training for the acquisition of complementary practical skills in the rest of theeconomy. Mass unemployment, poverty and high crime wave would correspondingly vanish and thequality of our infrastructure would improve accordingly.



Solution to Mass Unemployment in Nigeria

Book Description

Unemployment has been a global menace for decades. However, the problem of

unemployment is by far more severe in the developing nations of the world, especiallyin the artisan/craft economies of sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria.

The development of a scientific solution to co-existent mass unemployment, low productivity and high inflationproblems is one of the great rewards for our research efforts in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Our research revealed that all Westernnations experienced mass unemployment before they achieved modern Industrial Revolution (IR). Hence, therecannot be solution to mass unemployment without promoting rapid industrialization; a developing nation can onlysolve unemployment problem by promoting rapid industrialization. The theories of industrialization andemployment/unemployment are quite related.

Our theory of employment shows that any economy is in or close to one of three fundamental states. These are co-existent: (I) Mass Unemployment (Low Employment) Low Productivity and High Inflation; (II) Low Unemployment(High Employment), Optimal Productivity, and Minimal Inflation; and (III) Low Unemployment (Full Employment), Low

Productivity and High Inflation. Status I is what economists described as stagflation; it is the situation in artisan/crafteconomies of sub-Saharan Africa. Status II is the most desirable one; it is the situation in well-managed industrializednations. Status III is a utopian one.

To transform an economy from status I into status II is facilitated by quantum increase in employment (in quanti ty andquality) or increased industrialization. The major cause of unemployment problem in sub-Saharan Africa is theabsence of adequate training for the acquisition of practical skills for graduates of educational institutions in theregion. The theoretical basis of these relationships culled from our book is represented here.

Ogbimi (1990a), observed that every production process or system has an intrinsic value, .This value has two

aspects to it. These are the value of the goods/services obtainable from the system, and the value of the learning

opportunities associated with the system, . This relationship may be represented as:

The automobile repair workshop for example, provides the service of car repairs and also has learning opportunitiesfor training apprentices. A typical industrial plant produces industrial products and also has learning opportunities.Similarly, any economy produces goods and provides services and also has learning opportunities.

A nation may decide to neglect the learning opportunities in the economy and concentrate on the production ofgoods/services. Unfortunately, learning is the source of new knowledge and skills and improved productivity. Anynation that neglects learning risks stagnation.

In a progressive society, grows from increases in both and , because as learning takes place, improvedknowledge and skills are acquired and input into the system. These (the improved knowledge and skills) are thefundamental bases for improving productivity and total production. Primitive nations which neglect the learningopportunities in their production systems cannot establish the necessary production linkages demanded by a moderneconomy. They also cannot bridge the gap between theoretical and practical skills; and they cannot achieve rapidindustrialization. Nations which neglect the learning opportunities in their economies experience massunemployment, courtesy of the neglect of the opportunities for expanding the production base of the economy.Societies which neglect the learning opportunities in their economies cannot experience innovations because learningand acquiring new knowledge and skills and applying these in production are the bases for achieving innovations.

Equation (8) illustrates that the real value of the interactions among nations is in learning and acquiring newknowledge and skills. It is when the people in a production system learn and understand the problems in it that theyare able to solve them and improve productivity. In the absence of learning and acquisition of new knowledge,productivity stagnates or drops.



It is the learning component of the value of a production system that matters in the interaction among nations. Thelessons of history show that one society learns from another and this provides the basis for improving the productivityof the society with the lower productivity. No society has achieved modern industrialization in isolation (Ogbimi,1988). Europe began the modern era with almost total dependence on the Chinese, Indian and Islamic cultures – theGreat Medieval Civilizations (Cardwell, 1974). Indeed, England was accused by continental Europe of copying itsinventions and being unoriginal, just before England achieved the first modern industrial revolution. The learningsociety is the progressive one. Americans later learnt from Europeans, and Japanese learnt from Europeans and

Americans. It is probably the turn of Africans to learn from the rest of the world – Europeans, Americans and Asians,in the sequence of one continent learning from the other. This is the real benefit of foreign investment in modern time.The real value of foreign investment therefore, lies in the opportunities they provide for learning about theproduction/service systems in other societies.

The real value of foreign investment therefore, lies in the opportunities they provide for learning about theproduction/service systems in other societies. The real value of foreign investment does not lie in the glamour ofboard membership, market, equity shares and dividends, or in the menial jobs they provide for illiterates in adeveloping nation. Unfortunately, Nigerian economic planners have not realized this and they have had no reason forstressing the real value of foreign investments.

The ability to learn from a productive system depends on the extent the person concerned understands the principlesunderlying the production. Illiterates cannot learn from a sophisticated production system. As people learn andunderstand the production activities in the various sectors of an economy, the relevant linkages become established.

Equation (8) was further analysed, Ogbimi (1995). The method of analysis was as shown in figure 11. With trueinflation (I) define as the ratio, P/V , where P is the seller’s price and V is the producer’s cost, it was demonstrated thateach curve was the image of the other. The upper curve (the parabola) was identified as the inflation parabola whilethe lower curve (the hyperbola) was identified as the productivity (or production) hyperbola. In other words, improvedproductivity is the true antidote (remedy) for inflation. Numerically, this is expressed as:

Figure 12 shows the relationships among the level of employment; learning, knowledge and skills and the relevantautomation in a production system; and the level of productivity and the level of inflation in an economy. The resultsshow that any economy may be characterized by one of three fundamental stati. These are co-existent: (I) LowProductivity, High Unemployment and High Inflation (Stagflation); (II) Optimum Productivity, High Employment (lowunemployment) and Minimal Inflation; and (III) Low Productivity, Full Employment and High Inflation.

Developing nations are in position (I); they are confronted by low productivity, mass unemployment (low employment)and high inflation problems. England and other western nations faced these problems for many centuries. Whenwestern nations achieved industrialization (industrial transformation), they became closer to position (II) and wereable to solve the problems and experienced high productivity (optimum productivity), high employment (lowunemployment) and minimal inflation. Industrialized nations are closer to position II. Position (III) is a theoretical orutopian one, because no nation employs citizens to that level.

Western intelligentsia, especially Phillips (1958) and the World Bank and IMF workers have been confusing position(I) with position (III). However, our analysis, figure 12 makes it easy to distinguish between the positions. In position(III), there is a trade-off relationship between unemployment and inflation; reduction of unemployment (increase inemployment) increases inflation, and vice-versa. Whereas in position (I), reduction of unemployment (increase inemployment) improves productivity and reduces inflation. The application of Phillips’ curve-trade-off relationshipbetween inflation and unemployment assumes that the nation is in position (III). All developing nations are in



position (I) and not position (III). The World Bank and IMF have always been applying Phillips’ curve in African andLatin American nations in error. This has been a grievous error and it is one other way the Brentton Woodsinstitutions have mismanaged developing nations for many decades.

The management of an economy from one status to another, say from position (I) to position (II), or position (II) toposition (III), is a fundamental change – a transformation, one which demands a quantum input of quality knowledge

and skills into



the production system or economy. Industrialization moves an economy from position (I) towards position (II).

The theory of employment, productivity and inflation, again, shows that learning is the fundamental basis of growth

and development. The theory also demonstrates that the characteristics of man’s production aids – machines, aredependent on the knowledge man possesses for making them. Man makes tools and machinery to help him in doingcertain things, but not learning. This is because man uniquely learns, machines do not learn. This is why machinescannot supplant man in the production process. When machines supplant man, growth and development in thatsociety will stop.

Unemployment In Nigeria: On The Increase By Bolaji Aregbeshola

Published 12/14/2008

Nigeria Matters

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Bolaji Aregbeshola

Bolaji Aregbesola contributes from Nigeria.

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Unemployment In Nigeria: On The Increase Work has been described as a means of giving one‟s life purpose, direction, order and dignity. It also helps

to support oneself but when a high percentage of the nation‟s youth are unemployed due to government‟s

lack of ingenuity-what happens? The results of these are youth restiveness, crime, violence, e.t.c. The rate

of unemployment in Nigeria is on the increase with the disappearance of jobs in the public service, the

churning out of an estimated 120,000 graduates annually by Nigerian Universities and Polytechnics, lack of

industrialization e.t.c. Many youths have taken to robbery, extortion of money from people and so on.

Our political leaders do not have a national sense of urgency to a problem which the Sultan of Sokoto calls a

time bomb waiting to explode. Though the issue of unemployment in not peculiar to Nigeria alone. It is a

universal problem but the Nigerian government has not taken the necessary steps to arrest this situation

rather, it has remained silent.

One would have expected that the privatization program under the immediate past president, Olusegun

Obasanjo was aimed at providing employment for the jobless youths of this country but the program has

failed in this regard.

Some people have said that the graduates that are churned out by Nigerian Universities and polytechnics

have unemployable skills but could this be true? And if this assertion is correct, could the graduates be

blamed for the lack of employable skills? Everyone knows that the standard of education in Nigeria has

drastically fallen besides most educational institutions in the country have not tailored their programs to

meet the demand of the workforce. This makes their products ill-prepared for the labour market. Most

companies have to train fresh university and polytechnic graduates in order to acquire the skills necessary

to perform their roles.

Another terrifying issue is how thousands of graduates roam the streets for so many years in search of jobs.

The lucky ones who eventually get an offer after about five years of graduation would most likely have

forgotten the little skill they were able to acquire while in school and unless they become trained, such

graduates would not function effectively on their jobs.

Former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a reaction to the different calls, appeal and

demand by concerned Nigerians for the scrapping of the NYSC program said that “in the face of high level

graduate unemployment, the NYSC offered a stop-gap measure against joblessness.” This statement may be

true to some extent but the fact still remains that these youth corpers join the league of unemployed youths

after the mandatory one-year National service except for a few number of them who becomes retained by

the organizations they were posted to work.

Apart from the unemployed graduates, other cadre such as the secondary school drop-outs and school

leavers as well as the „agberos‟ also make-up the unemployed youths in Nigeria. Vocational training centres

which were meant to cater for this set of youths are not in existence. Also, skill acquisition programmes

which could empower graduates and non-graduates alike are hardly developed by governments. These

youth centres and programmes, if functional, would afford the teeming population of unemployed youths in

Nigeria the opportunity of acquiring sellable skills thereby making them productive. This will in turn reduce

violence and crime among others.

The absence of such youth empowerment programme across the federation has led to an increase in the

number of miscreants/street urchins who indulge in crime, violence e.t.c. The procurement of commercial

three-wheeler vehicles and the promotion of „okada‟ riding by the past administration is not a solution to the

issue of unemployment in Nigeria. They have become a nightmare rather than a solution. What government

needs to do is create new jobs and provide welfare programmes for the young teenage mothers,

unemployed and underemployed youths. Our resources are enough to be widening spread among the

citizens of the country.






According to Senator Arthur Nzeribe, “huge incomes accruing to the nation are consumed at the top by

politicians” but these monies can be used to provide welfare programmes for the unemployed youths of the

country while government create new jobs. It can also leverage low income earners most of whom their jobs

don‟t pay enough to support their families. Government at all levels cannot afford to be passive about this

issue, they must act as a matter of urgency to arrest the situation if a society free of incessant crime and

violence is what we crave.

Documents

Tackling Youth Unemployment Through Vocational Skills Acquisition