The federal government has described the rising rate of unemployment among Nigerian youth as alarming and asserted that the figure could hit 33.5 per cent in 2020. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the current unemployment rate in the country at 23.1 per cent.
The minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, spoke on the issue yesterday in Abuja when he opened a two-day workshop on “Breaking the Resilience of High Unemployment Rate in the Country.” Ngige, who was represented by the permanent secretary in the ministry, Mr. William Allo, however, said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is committed to tackling the menace of youth joblessness. The minister said that the high unemployment rate of 23.1 per cent, and underemployment of 16.6 per cent disclosed by NBS in its 2019 report was alarming.
According to him, “it is a worrisome status as the global poverty capital (World Bank, 2018); and concomitant high prevalence rate of crimes and criminalities, including mass murders, insurgency, militancy, armed robbery, kidnappings, drug abuse, among others, point to “As if this situation is not scary enough, it is projected that the unemployment rate for this country would reach 33.5 per cent by 2020, with consequences that are better imagined, if the trend is not urgently reversed.
“It is a thing of joy to note that Nigeria has not been resting on her oars over the years in terms of dedicated efforts to curb the unemployment problem, ‘’ he said. Ngige said that various government social intervention programmes targeted at reducing youth unemployment and eradicating poverty had been implemented by different administrations since Nigeria gained independence.
The minister further said that available records showed that between 1972 and 2019, about 14 of such programmes have been implemented. He said that these programmes include the National Accelerated Food Production Programme (NAFPP), implemented between 1972 and 1973, adding that others are the current National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which has been on-going since 2017, embedded in the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.
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