Toying with Time Bomb
There is a time bomb waiting to
explode somewhere within the country! The problem is that the government is
really toying with this time bomb. When this bomb will explode is what nobody
knows but the time for its explosion is near!! Boko Harram is not the biggest
challenge the country is facing thus, it is not the time bomb waiting to
explode. But what then is this time bomb?
UNEMPLOYMENT! Unemployment is this
Time Bomb waiting to explode some day if not managed properly. Nigeria is
suffering from rapid alarming increase in unemployment level especially among
the youths.
Every year, the country graduates
thousands of youths who join their counter-parts in the already congested
labour markets to roam about the street. The unemployment level among Nigerian
youths is just a Time Bomb that can explode any time soon! It’s also important
to point out that youth unemployment is not a new issue in Nigeria but the
constant rising level of it is really disturbing.
During 1970s when the country
experienced economic boom, there was 6.2 percent level of unemployment among
youths. Subsequently, during 1980s and 1990s, youth unemployment jumped to 9.8
percent and 11.5 percent respectively! Undoubtedly, youth unemployment has
become a serious threat to the existence of Nigeria.
According to Bureau of Statistics,
the current youth unemployment rate in the country is over 25 percent. This
means that over 60 million Nigerian youths out of population of 150 million are
unemployed!!
According to the statistics released
by Bureau of Statistics, the North has more number of unemployed youths in the
country. Unemployment is not a North syndrome alone.
It is a problem facing the
country in general. If you visit Aba, a city in Abia state, you will see able
body youths roaming about the street. You will see able body youths with
frustration written all over their faces.
Former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was quoted as saying in
Lokoja, Kogi State that “Nigeria has watered down her moral standards to the
point where many of the youths are confused, discouraged, in deep trouble and
streets full of violence as a result of youth unemployment”. This shows the
danger of having such alarming level of unemployment among the youths in the country.
The International Labour
Organization (ILO) launched its 2012 Global Employment Trends which offers the
latest information on unemployment level across the globe. According to the
report, lack of structural transformation and constant increase in population
growth has limited the opportunities of creating decent jobs in Africa. Aware
of the dangers of having an alarming rate of unemployment rate in any country,
the ILO urged world leaders to do more in the area of youth empowerment by
adopting already tested strategies to combat rising youth unemployment.
In Nigeria, the resultant of high
level of youth unemployment is countless and the implications are becoming
unbearable for many Nigerians. In a country where millions of youths are
provided with no meaningful job, barbaric acts become order of the day. If jobs
were provided for the teeming population in the North before now maybe, the
country wouldn’t have joined other countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to
experience the scaring security challenges she is battling now.
In the eastern part of the country,
kidnapping has become the only option for most unemployed youths. The statistics of kidnapping in Nigeria is
alarming. Recently, the African Insurance Organisation said Nigeria accounts
for a quarter of kidnap for ransom cases reported worldwide in the last one
year. AIO disclosed this in its 2012 newsletter released during the concluded 18th
African Reinsurance Forum of AIO in Balaclava, Mauritius.
In the report, AIO stated, “The
number of kidnaps for ransom in Africa continued to increase. In the first half
of 2011, Africa’s proportion of the global total increased from 23 per cent in
2010 to 34 per cent. Nigeria is now the kidnap for ransom capital of the world,
accounting for a quarter of globally reported cases.”
In the west, robbery is the order of
the day, according to the statistics released by the Lagos State Commissioner
of Police, Umar Manko in 2012 as seen in PM News, between 1 November, 2011 and
31 October, 2012, 32 policemen were killed by robbers while the police also
killed 140 robbers in the process of gun battle.
The statistics also showed increased
robbery cases in Lagos, with 123 armed robbery incidents recorded in the last
11 months ending in October as against the 61 robbery cases that took place in
the previous year. There is hardly a day without one robbery incident or the
other across the country.
Similarly, rape is on the increase
as young men have nothing to be busy with. Rape cases are hardly reported but
the few available statistics shows that the ugly act is rapidly on increase in
recent years in the country.
Young ladies are seriously into
prostitution which has led to increase in HIV & AIDS saga! The number of
cyber crime is on the increase. Nigerian youths are asking the government what
their fate is in the nearest future. People are afraid of graduating because
nothing is working in the labour market.
Nigerian youths are just roaming
about the street with nothing tangible to do with their time and as a result,
evil thoughts keep ringing inside their minds. Remember that an idle mind is
the devil’s workshop.
2015 is around the corner and it’s
the year when the country will embark on another series of political elections.
These teeming unemployed youths may turn out to be very profiting assets to
some wicked and greedy politicians who may use them as tools to cause mayhem in
the country.
If the youth unemployment level
continues to increase, in years to come, the government may not be able to
manage it. It is then the Time Bomb would explode and everyone will be
affected!!
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Author: Kingsley the Analist
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