RECOGNIZED as the most active segment of population, the youths are also, literally often than not refers to as the oil that lubricates the engine of economic growth as well as the power house that energise the pace of productivity.
As workers, and through their direct involvement in production and service offerings, they help to create conditions for continuing workforce productivity, and also effect actual productivity increase through introduction of innovations, better work methods, and also the development of of higher human intellectual faculty. As citizens, they support the increasingly growing class of dependents ; retirees; old people; children; full-time house wives and handicaps amongst others.
In developed countries of the world, the celebrated economic growth had largely been credited to the economically-active youths. But, it is unfortunate in Nigeria that youths (defined as individuals between ages 18-35 years), are yet to live up to their billings. Indeed, given the overwhelming challenges they face, it is not entirely hyperbolical to describe many young people in Nigeria as as being seriously at risk, vulnerable and socially disadvantaged.
That unemployment of young people is a serious problem in Nigeria is to say the least as the total unemployment rate is said to be 10.8 percent. Youth unemployment rates far exceed adult unemployment rates. The country’s youth dependency rate is an all-high 85.1 percent, higher than Kenya’s 78.6 percent and Indonesia’s 43.1 percent. The problem is more severe in urban areas.
Amongst those privileged to work , what they call “work” hardly merits the description. Many are exposed to indecent working conditions, dominated by long labourous hours, earning low wages. The bad situation is further compounded beyond almost redemption by the scourge bof child labour and casualisation. The situation is particularly worse in the largely unregulated informal sector, a sector notorious for all manners of work indecency (poor work condition, low incomes, lack of social protection). The womenfolk even though a large proportion of the working population, faces gender, social, cultural duscrimination, with large chunk of their work go unreported, or , as in the case of full-time house wives, unrewarded.
For those looking for jobs, their prospects of getting one is no less gloomy. Many are seriously lacking in employable band transferability skills so crucial for success in 21st Century World of Work. Many analysts have contended that the latter problem is a direct fall-out of poor quality standard of the nation’s educational system- a system notorious for churning out half-baked graduates.
Taken in totality, it is hardly surprising that the country’s overall economic growth is unimpressive, to say the least. At $2,100, our labour productivity (per value added) is below even poorer countries like Cameron, Niger Republic, Cape Verde, according to recent investigation, “Nigeria: An Assessment of the Investment Climate”: That Nigeria’s economy now ranked number one (thanks to recent GDP rebase) is, to the informed, hardly cheering news. If anything is cheering at all, it is the long overdue recognition of the Nigerian service sectors, notably Telecoms and firlm industries- Nollywood as key contributors to the claimed rising GDP. Never mind if some, far- sighted watchers had long recognized This. Beyond the hullabaloo that trailed our so called Africa’s number one economy is the hidden harsh reality: our so called new found-economic power is largely factor-driven (capital accumulation fuelled by oil) and not due to higher productive performance. In fact, contrary to standard neoclassical theory (“a sufficiently high growth rate automatically reduces poverty and unemployment). Nigeria’s high output growth has led to employment growth. This of course has given rise to concern that Nigeria is actually experiencing “jobless growth” which translates to employment growth lagging substantially behind out put growth. The consequence, of course is high unemployment. There are other no less worrying consequence of poverty, which with 68.0 percent of Nigerians living below the Human Development threshold. Furthermore, on the Human Development index, Nigeria is ranked amongst countries with low development index.
Of greater (and graver) consequences of the rising youth unemployment is the youth’s disposition to social instability, increased drug abuse and crime. Many become handy tools in the hands of recruiting criminal gang- armed robbers, thugs, cultists, hired killers, militants and miscreants.
The productivity costs of such mindless waste is mind-blogging, to put it mildly. Amongst others, poverty , youth unemployment, poor quality products and services, and low productivity, add all these to the brain drain that has resulted in massive numbers of Nigerian taking risky exit ( many are crammed in rickety illegal boats which often capsized, leaving the vast Mediterranean, polluted with wasted youthful blood). Then, you a disturbingly convincing reason why youth unemployment is serious issur, and why concerned Nigeria keep sounding the alarm bells on the dangers of the bulge that refuses to bulge, the instructive report, Nigeria: The Next Generation flashed the red flag, “if unemployment is to be brought to 7 percent by 2030, the labour market needs to nearly double in size, creating almost 50 million jobs. Clearly, there bis a crisis in Nigeria’ labour and this could worsen rapidly .
Then, how then can we take the problem? To be sure , the youth job challenge facing us is multifaceted, ranging from creating jobs for those who want to work, to improving aspects of the work people are engaged in, do, as well as making the youths more productive. Tackling the problems therefore requires specific measures aimed at these issues. A key lesson that emerged from Nigeria’s “jobless growth” dilemma is that economic growth alone does not automatically translate into human development progress, or generate more jobs. Government should therefore adopt a broad-based job strategy that is firmly rooted in reconciling the mis-match between high economic growth and the inability of individuals , especially youths to find adequate employment. Economic growth, standard of living and employment growth can be indeed move together and they often do as in the remarkable of Korea and East Asian economies. Faced with a disconnect between economic growth and employment, Korea adopted a job strategy, the “National Employment Strategy” with a clear target of increase in the employment rate. Government also has a catalyst role to play in Job creation through the fostering of an environment conducive to domestic and international business to invest, grow, increase trade and generate job opportunities. Investment Climate reform helped explain China’s achievement in lifting 400 million people out of poverty. India’s success in doubling its growth and Uganda’s ability to grow eight times the average of other sub-Saharan countries over the last decade. Premised on a strong public-private partnership, such an enabler must also be strong enough to attract Nigerians in Diaspora to return home and invest.
Also, at the heart of any meaningful Job creation strategy should be the diversification of the largely monolithic base of the Nigerian economy. Experience in Nigeria has shown that a high rate of growth of manufacturing in relation to overall GDP growth is potentially conducive to a high rate of employment growth. It is also has the added benefit of creating conditions for transfer of surplus labour from sectors characterised by low labour productivity to those with higher productivity. Some countries of East and South East Asia (ESEA), especially, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, were able to achieve this kind of manufacturing-intensive and employment – growth pattern.
To improve work and its conditions, there is also the need to reform the obnoxious aspects of the Nigerian labour laws. The law, as it is currently, did not give adequate protection to workers rights particularly the vulnerable groups such as women. In the case of women, while there are noted areas of marked improvement (for example, access of women to maternity leave in the formal sector), some aspects are still begging for attention. For example, the issue of harmonizing dual roles of women as workers and mothers. It is imperative we find the right balance between career and matrimonial commitments. Many young women, particularly those in the private sector in Nigeria has either lost their jobs or forced to give it up due to the difficulty of Managing work tie and wifery duties. While the public sectors appear to be less intolerant of nursing mothers, public managers are actually at their wit’s end; having to contend with the often frustrating challenge of managing female workers of “divided loyalty’ who has to divide her time between work (she often leaves offices at 1pm to school run, usually the peak hours of office duties) and home commitments. A good starting point to minimizing the pains of our young female workers is, as is it done in many western countries, provide in-plant child care centres, where children of working mothers are taken care of whle she works nearby. It is noteworthy that such a remarkable innovation is already in place at Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) office at Ijora, which operates an in-plant child care facilities, to take care of children of its female workers.
Creating new jobs should not be the only concern of the government job strategy.
There is also the necessity of not only protecting the existing jobs, but more importantly ensuring that those workers are able to retain the jobs by providing them with right training, right skills and right education. The building blocks of any skills strategy must be solid foundation skills and stronger links between the education and the world of work International experience shows that countries that have succeeded in linking skills development to higher productivity, employment and development have targeted skills development policy towards the key objectives of matching supply to current demand for skills, building and sustaining competences for future labour market needs, as well as helping workers and enterprise adjust to change. The use of school-based structures for impacting workplace skills have developed in the last 15 years and many countries have now adopted a system whereby skills training occur in tandem with the regular school curriculum. A good example is the German Apprenticeship System which has been very successful in facilitating the transition from school to work. Indeed, the fact that German’s youth unemployment ahs consistently fallen below adult unemployment rates is a testimony to how successful this innovative school-linked skills development programme had been.
Skills training must also incorporate the informal sector, where a large segment of the country’s vulnerable (particularly those out of formal school) find solace. A commendable programme in this regard is the NDE’s National Open Apprenticeship Sceheme (NOAS) that is desgined to provide technical and vocational skills to unemployed and underprivileged youths. For more meaningful impact however, NOAS scope should be extended to the rural sectors of the economy. This has the added benefit of checkmating the alarming rural-urban drift.
The private sectors, needless to say also has important role to play both in job creation and skill training. As stakeholders in job creation, they should not merely complain about “talent shortage” (despite growing ranks of well-educated unemployed), or merely “cannibalise” the brightest from rival companies, they should be seen to be actively involved in developing human capital by investing more and providing more and continuous on-the-job training (for those currently working), encouraging learning within enterprise, and promoting the inclusion of disadvantaged youths in their training schemes.
The role of youths themselves in improving their dire job situation is certainly not in question. First and foremost, there is need for a radical shift in youth’s pervading mindset, many of which are rooted in unfounded unrealities. Many still cling to the fallacious notion of “securing that dream job on graduation is a certainty’ because “I am highly educated and that “white-collar employment is the ultimate dream job” because “it guarantees security’ of course, it’s usually a matter of time before the harsh labour market jolts them to reality. The reality of today’s Nigeria is that the educated are no more likely to get a job as the uneducated or unskilled, and even if you have one, you may no longer have the privilege of keeping it for long as the jobs are continuously ina flux increasingly impermanent, and insecure, bringing with it newer and higher skilled knowledge-driven workers.
Therefore to survive and remain productive in this globalized-driven world, Nigeria youths should be self reliant, independent and self-employed. They should imbibe the I-Can-Do-Spirit” the creative instinct that creates rather than look for non-existent jobs; the innovative spirit that craves for “what I can do for myself” and “what I do best” welcome talent Ever wonder why the Ali Babas, Basket Mouths, Eddie Murphys of this comical world always smile to the bank, the same way they always make you laugh? But this is not just for asking. Youths should also realized and accept that responsibility for self-development is solely one’s own responsibility. Our government, parents even teachers can only provide the enabling environment for our creativity to be unleashed. And when such environment exists? The sky would not be the limit.
