Rising unemployment responsible for Badoo, kidnapping, say experts

• Unemployment on steady rise since 2014
• 3.67m loses job in 2016

By Odunewu Segun

The rising cases of kidnappings, ritual killings and many vices being committed in the country have been attributed to the growing unemployment rates among youths, experts have argued.

About 3.67 million Nigerians became unemployed in 2016 as a result of the economic downturn in the country, a data from the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.

National Daily gathered that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose from 7.51 million in October 2015 to 11.19 million at the end of September 2016 – an increase of 67 percent over a period of 12 months.

Even more worrying, the unemployment rate was highest among young people, aged 15 to 24, rising from 17.8 percent in the beginning of the last three months of 2015 to 25 percent at the end of September last year.

Unemployment also increased for the critical 25-34 age group, from 10.8 percent to 15 percent during the same period. 2017 has not offered better prospects for Nigeria’s youth.

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Past President of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, said Nigeria is experiencing insecurity largely due to joblessness and perceived marginalization. He added that unemployment rate has been rising consistently since 2014.

Abiola Rasaq, an investment analyst with the UBA Capital, agrees that failure to harness “this rich human capital resource can create social menace for us. There is potential that unemployed youths can become a social force for civil unrest; we need to ensure that we make our youths productive,” said Rasaq who cited the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the Dangote Foundation as exemplary initiatives driving entrepreneurship and job creation.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in the office of the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, however said government’s N-Power programme is already targeting unemployed graduates.

“Half a million people are being targeted but we have done 200,000. It is just for unemployed graduates. And we have already reached another 100,000 non-graduates as micro credit is being made available to young people who want to develop their businesses.”

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Reacting on the matter, President, UNIC Foundation, an NGO that focuses on capacity building for Nigerians, Dr. Christopher Imumolen said when a larger percentage of the youths are hungry, desperate with no hope, they turn to crime.

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“The Federal Government effort of tackling rising crime rate by pumping more funds into security is an exercise in futility. The way out is to allocate some of these funds to solve unemployment issues in the country.”

He said government should come up with creative idea that can immediately cushion the effect of unemployment in our country, especially creating an enabling environment that will make businesses survive in the country.