Unemployment and its headache: A Way Out............

“A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under this sun”- Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), British historian and essayist.

Let me start with my own experience as a new graduate looking for a good job at least to fend for myself, take care of my family and live well. I knew deep down that I wasn’t going to stay at home for long, well, that’s my faith at work. I started submitting my CV, polishing it each time I apply for a new job. Unfortunately, the positive spirit started dwindling because I wasn’t receiving any reply from those organisations I submitted to.

Then a friend advised me to dress up each morning and visit the HR department of at least five organisations in order to submit my CV. What?! What if I’m turned back at the gate? I didn’t buy the idea but on a second thought I felt I should at least to get my hands busy.

Before the “Leg stretch” of Job hunting started, I received a mail from a company I earlier submitted my CV and was called for a test interview. I was so excited, “Atlast!” I said to myself. I read, researched on the company and fully got prepared. By 6am the next day, I was already on my way to the Island.

The number of job seekers that welcomed me at the company’s location put off any form of excitement I must have felt while leaving home. Right there, over three hundred candidates were waiting to also write the interview test. I wasn’t expecting that large number of people, likewise I wasn’t expecting that I would be the only one to write the test.

I approached a lady who appeared to be friendly to be sure if I was in the right place and showed her the mail I received and she showed me just the same message from her phone too. Eventually, we all had received the same mail inviting us to come for a test on the same position. She told me she arrived from Benin the previous day for the test. I looked around and wondered about the battle for same position, I would have to engage with these people. That shows how unemployment is affecting the youths and why many are giving up on their chances of ever getting a job.

Unemployment is a major issue affecting more than half of Nigeria’s population within the age group of 18-35 years, with a higher rate in the northern part of the country. This fact is supported by data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, which revealed that the rate of unemployment in Nigeria increased to 7.50% in January 2015 from 6.40% in December 2014. This represents an increase of 1.1% in less than two months! By all standards, this is quite alarming. The Bureau also revealed that the Unemployment Rate in Nigeria averaged 11.93% between 2006 and 2015, reaching an all time high of 23.90% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and a record low of 5.30% in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Likewise, the International Labour Organization, (an organization that takes statistics of both the employed and unemployed in the world), stated in 2012 that about 6% of the world population is unemployed and that the most unemployed are the youths. According to the same organization, about 73.4 million youths were unemployed in 2013. A news publication company, Vanguard online news, reported on May 19, 2014, that an estimated 60 million Nigerians are unemployed. World Bank Data in 2010 put poverty level among Nigerian citizens as 46% of the nation’s population, and attributed this high number to the rate of unemployment in the country amongst other factors. (World Bank Data).

In a nutshell, our country has an unprecedented number of her population badly affected by the scourge of unemployment. The quest for good leadership in solving unemployment in the country has made almost all that are affected by the menace show their reaction one way or the other. The most pitiable of it is that most youths are crying day and night because of the “wicked unemployment” in the country.

It is therefore not surprising to see thousands of new graduates seeking for the same position in an organisation, while a few brave ones struggle to design and establish small-scale businesses with the little money they are able to raise as capital.

Some have argued that there are available jobs but lack of competent graduates to take them up, while others have also pointed out that there are limited spaces to accommodate these thousands of youths within the current labour workforce structure.

Therefore seeing a non-profit organisation (Young Business Leaders of Nigeria) coming out to help reduce the crisis and achieve ambitious goal of reducing unemployment by three percent before December 2016 is worth applauding. They have decided to take the bull by the horn with several of their programs, one of which is the residential entrepreneurs program currently on-going in Lagos state, Nigeria involving twenty budding entrepreneurs with viable business plans. These entrepreneurs were selected through a rigorous application process from a pool of over 3,000 applications received from across Nigeria, of which a friend of mine is among.

This program I heard is a focused attempt at getting a large mass of young people off the side-lines and proactively involved in creating jobs on a consistent basis in various communities across the country.

I was at the welcoming program at Carton Concouse, Victoria Island, where each of the twenty budding entrepreneurs were given HP Laptop with a promise of seed fund (N1million) to outstanding participants. Each participant I heard would have access to special credit facilities at low rates, Wow! Not to forget that these participants were lodged on the Island for the duration of six weeks program.

Specific leadership coaching, mentoring and reorientation would be emphasized throughout the six-week duration of the program. Community service programs as well as site visits to corporate offices, business and operational sites of some of Nigeria’s biggest or most promising enterprises would also be involved with training from renowned entrepreneurs and facilitators.

According to my friend, each of these budding entrepreneurs is expected to employ a minimum of five persons before December 2016.

Trust me not miss the next edition of the program. You can also like their face book page and twitter account like I’ve done also for any other programs they may have for job seekers or budding entrepreneurs.

Facebook page: Young Business Leaders of Nigeria: www.facebook.com/yblnigeria. 
Twitter: @yblnigeria or visit their website: http://www.yblnigeria.com

@Whurmie