Concerned over the alarming rate of unemployment in the country, Dr Christopher Imumolen, President UNIC Foundation, an NGO, focused on youth, women and children development and empowerment has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on unemployment .
Imumolen who spoke at a press briefing Wednesday, at the Foundation’s headquarters in Lagos, said that rate of unemployment is alarming, pointing out that statistics revealed over 27 million Nigerian youths are unemployed while over 70 million people are under employed.
According to him, that number outweighs the number of the population in Ghana, it outweighs the population of Benin Republic, “we are looking at a situation where we have a whole nation not employed in some other countries.
“So we have over 27 million who live on less than a dollar per day, and we have over 70million people who are underemployed, these are people who are working but by international standard practice are earning far less than what they ought to earn. This rate is alarming notable Nigerians ought to talk about it.” He stressed.
He hinted that , He noted that though the foundation is not blaming the govt, it is saying that the government should look at the issue more critically as people are suffering. He pointed at the Npower scheme where over 2.3 million Nigerians applied for jobs that could only take 300 graduates who will be paid thirty thousand naira a month.
This according to him proves we are in a litmus situation which if not controlled; may totally erode our value on education. “When youths see their elders who have gone through education remaining unemployed for over five years, how can they still believe that education is key to success.”
Imumolen noted that government is trying, but the effect is minimal. To him, there is no way a country which have over 27 million unemployed graduates can totally eradicate crime, there is no way it can wipe off armed robbery, insecurity, kidnapping and other vices in the nation. These he pointed are all offshoots of idleness.
“We at UNIC Foundation are asserting that why should the government be spending so much money to eradicate crime rather than killing the prime mover which is unemployment itself?
“The concern of Federal government to seek to abolish crime could not be achieved by earmarking so much funds for security every year. The way out is to allocate some of these funds to solve unemployment issues in the country.
“We have to address these things from the root. Our advocacy against justice is now tied to people who are on the street, idle. This has increased the rate of crime in the country. We have many unemployed youths in the country, but the issue is that, government, individual and corporate organization must come together to tackle this.” He noted
Speaking further, Imumolen said people are hungry, and if people can’t earn a living they will take to crime. “Until unemployment and these other things are tackled crime can’t be abolished.
He urged the federal government to act fast by coming up with creative ideas which can immediately cushion the effect of unemployment in our country. He also asked the government to create enabling environment that will make businesses survive in a country where businesses have been tagged to fail after two years, noting that only 10 percent of businesses set up in Nigeria survive after two years of setting it up.
He hinted that his organisation have mentorship and apprenticeship programmes which he believes the government can partner with on a larger scale.
“We are adopting this methodology by picking up people on the street. Graduates who do not have jobs can come into UNIC Foundation and enroll for free apprenticeship program that will thrive. We have identified 10 major sectors with prospects to thrive.” He noted.
