FORENSIC FORCE: Unspoken and unemployed

By Salisu Suleiman


According to some reports, close to 80, 000 people stormed the National Stadium for the event. They were not there to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic, or the All Africa Games. They were not there to watch the Super Eagles play a visiting team. They were not there for any Evangelical Crusade, and neither did Muslims decide to observe the Eid prayers at the stadium. They were there to write examinations to be shortlisted for employment by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The 80,000 candidates were just at the Lagos centre alone. All over Nigeria’s major cities, similar scenes played out that day. In all, over half a million candidates applied for the few thousand job openings at the NDLEA. (The agency itself reportedly netted N750 million from the N1, 500 fees charged each applicant).
Scenes like these are by no means unusual. Reports also indicate that millions of people applied for a few thousand job openings at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC; the Federal Road Safety Corps; Nigeria Immigration Service and others.
Nobody has the exact numbers of unemployed people in Nigeria. Last year, government accepted World Bank estimates that nearly 30 percent of Nigeria’s workforce is unemployed. Other observers believe the figures are higher. A recent study warns that Nigeria would have to create 24 million jobs in the next 10 years just to halve unemployment. Whatever the actual figures may be, unemployment is a major challenge confronting Nigeria.
While these scary statistics stare at us, government recently announced that the Niger Delta Coastal Road project would be constructed at the sum of N 1 trillion. Typically, there was no indication of the number of jobs the project would create. Yet, properly planned and executed, a project of this magnitude can create millions of direct and indirect jobs of all kinds in addition to more obvious benefits.
This single example is symptomatic of government approach to the challenge of job creation. Projects and programmes are embarked upon without indicating the specific number of jobs the project would create. How many jobs have been created in the real sector as a by-product of huge government spending? What strategies have been put in place to help mitigate the effects of unemployment in Nigeria? Do the unemployed have hope? Do we even have a current database of unemployed Nigerians?
Government must view unemployment in Nigeria from a national security perspective. Nigerians are generally hardworking and creative. If you follow a street hawker darting in and out of heavy traffic for a whole day in the hot sun, (often burdened with goods they are hawking), you will understand. But when people who are able and willing to work so hard just to get by find themselves unable to earn a living, then we are asking for trouble.
While not justifying the spate of armed robberies and kidnappings of recent, they are no doubt linked to unemployment. When university graduates, retired (and even serving) members of the security forces are forced into a life of crime, the level of sophistication and complexity is often beyond the capacity of the police and civil defense corps to handle.
So what is to be done?
There must be a census of unemployed people in Nigeria. From the exercise, a constantly updated base of unemployed Nigerians should be developed to introduce a basic ‘unemployment’ allowance. If all our ‘dishonourable honourables’ at the National Assembly can emerge as billionaires after each four-year term, then the treasury can find funds for this payment, which stops as soon as a person gets a job.
Responsibility for this payment should be shared among the federal, state and local governments. Compared to the billions spent every year on security (and much more looted), it is not asking for too much for government to give a token sum to every unemployed Nigerian. That way, a lot of petty theft and crime would be reduced and millions of lives would be touched. There would also be a positive impact on the economy, as most of the money would go directly to purchase goods and services.
The public sector cannot employ everyone in the country even if it had the resources. The private sector must be enabled to create employment and stimulate economic growth. Policies (and spending) at all levels must aim to stimulate the real sector, especially small and medium scale enterprises. Agriculture and industry are critical.
The warning lights are on: politics may dominate national discourse today, but the effects of unmitigated unemployment will destroy the polity.