Democracy Day: Gauging
Democracy Day: Gauging the Minds of University
Students
After every presentation as a guest lecturer, I create a WhatsApp
group for the university students who are interested in PR practice
and journalism. Therefore, recently I asked members of the
different groups (BUK Kano, Unilorin Ilorin, ABU Zaria, UDUS Sokoto
and Unimaid Maiduguri) to submit short articles on topical
issues.
The fears of most of the contributors were on the Education
Crisis, Drug Abuse and Youth Unemployment.
While one of the universities has more contributors, others
could not make a single contribution, probably because of the tight
deadline.
Please read their opinions as submitted:
Yushau A. Shuaib
Nurudeen
Akewushola UDUS
ASUU Strike and Nigerian Students
By Nurudeen Akewushola
Few weeks ago, the Academic Staff Union of Universities
threatened to embark on another industrial action over the federal
government’s failure to fulfil their agreement.
The statement threw many Nigerian students into despair based on
the fact that the strike would disrupt the academic stability of
their various universities.
In fact, Nigerian universities are still suffering academic
setback as a result of the last ASUU strike.
Incessant strikes in Nigerian universities as a result of the
underfunding of the education sector by the federal government,
poses a great challenge to the academic stability and standards of
Nigerian universities and thus calls for a serious consideration by
university lecturers and government.
The first recorded strike by university workers was in 1988 over
lecturers’ demands for fair wages and university autonomy. The
government banned on ASUU on August 7 of that year. But the ban was
lifted after two years. There were other strikes in 1994, 1996,
2007 and 2009.
By October 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed
by both parties and this appeared to have brought an end to the
recurring strikes. However, in 2013, there was another strike which
lasted for three months. But the administration of then President
Goodluck Jonathan convinced the lecturers to resume work again and
the strike ended in December 2016.
The story remained unchanged despite the election of President
Muhammadu Buhari as there were strikes in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
However, the questions agitating the minds of Nigerians are:
Why has the government yet to meet the demands of ASUU?
Why is it that ASUU cannot find another means of agitation apart
from strikes?
Why does it seem that both parties do not consider the future of
students and their tertiary institutions?
ASUU’s agitation covers the underfunding of the education
sector, high level of infrastructural decay, non-payment of
arrears, salaries and allowances among others. Successive
governments had admitted that these demands are valid.
Though ASUU’s demands are cogent, the instability in the
academic calendar is ruining the education system. It is expected
that ASUU will adopt a different approach to its agitation. Some
fallouts of the strikes have been delays in graduation and
matriculation and the obstruction of academic activities.
It is also pertinent for the government to look at a convenient
compromise before reaching any agreement with the lecturers to
avoid making unreliable pledges.
The revenue base of the institutions can be improved upon by
investing in economic ventures and partnering the private sector.
Some universities are already doing this.
Scholars working in the universities must also link up with
industries and foreign agencies for grants that could help solve
some of the problems.”
On a final note, students and parents should not fold their arms
even after each strike is called off. They usually forget about
ASUU once academic activities resume. They should instead seek to
be current and ensure that in one way or the other, their voices
are heard in making sure that government abides by its agreements
with ASUU.
Nurudeen Akewushola
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Abdullahi
Tijjani UDUS
Challenges of the Education System in
Nigeria
By Abdullah Tijani
Studying in Nigeria has not been easy for a student like me;
despite the sad song repeatedly sang to our ears, calling us the
leaders of tomorrow while the quality of our educational system
proves otherwise. Students in Nigerian government-owned
institutions do not only suffer under dilapidated infrastructures,
they also lack qualitative sophisticated teaching materials. If
this is the kind of treatment the future leaders are given, the
hope of this nation is then not reasonable.
These treatments — exposure to qualitative education, good
infrastructure, sophisticated and modern teaching equipment — are
not benefits to be given at the discretion of any government,
rather a duty that must be fulfilled.
According to Section 18 of the Nigerian Constitution, it shall
be the duty of the government to make education free. Not only has
the Nigerian government breached this provision by monetising the
institutions, they have also made education expensive. School fees
of the federal government universities continue skyrocketing, and
students can not differentiate a private owned university and a
state owned. What is going wrong? Why is our government
short-falling in their duties? Education is meant to be free, but
they are turning it to profit making business.
One will think with all the money paid, especially to the state
owned institutions, the service to be rendered should be
qualitative, but it is disappointing to be primitive. The structure
of our infrastructures are not well architectured, our libraries
are short of updated books, all in all, learning atmosphere is not
conducive.
ASUU Strike is another problem faced by Nigerian students. When
students are battling with the problems caused by the federal
government, industrial actions of the university lecturers capped
the escapades. Unending and occasional strikes of the lecturers
have perverted — it caused more harm than good it said to have
intended. Our lecturers understand these: lack of enough
infrastructure is not good for education, library with outdated
books will not update students on learning; but nothing good will
come out by making the students a scapegoat.
ASUU strike causes distraction and disruption to the educational
sector. A four-year programme in our tertiary institutions
subconsciously turns six years; many have abandoned schooling
because they lack faith in a system that wastes their time. The
consequences of our lecturers industrial actions, even though with
all the good intentions, over the years have not yielded positive
results; the possibility of not yielding is visibly feasible. If
this is so, why not change cause?
The sad fate of Nigerian students caused by the government and
the lecturers is a stain on the nation’s future. If the sad song
which says we are future of tomorrow tends not to be false, then
there is no doubt that the future of our nation is not
futuristic.
Abdullah Tijani
Usman Danfodio University Sokoto
……………………..
Maryam Maina
Unimaid
Addressing Drug Addiction Among Youths
By Maryam Maina Wagami
Drugs are substances that are not classified as food and when
taken into the body affect the way it functions. Consumption of
drugs can be legal or illegal and as we all know, the Ministry of
Health is concerned about this. Apart from the Ministry of Health,
we also have the NDLEA (National Drug Law Enforcement Agency) whose
responsibility is to checkmate and regulate the illicit consumption
of drugs in the society. Such substances include cocaine,
marijuana, heroin, morphine and hemp.
Drug abuse on the other hand is the use of drugs without the
prescription of a medical practitioner. It is also referred to as
the wrong use or dosage of normal drugs. Drug addiction is a
situation whereby one finds it difficult to quit illegal
consumption of drugs knowing fully well that it affects the body
system.
Many youths resort to drug abuse/addiction due to frustration,
depression, curiosity, emotional instability, peer group pressure
while others say they do it for pleasure. The rate at which youths
consume illegal drugs is alarming as it is no longer a thing of
surprise to see a 16 year old boy indulging in such an unwholesome
habit.
Gone were the days when students take their lectures without
using hard drugs or stimulants. Students smoke cigarettes or
cannabis or consume prohibited substances which they claim makes
them concentrate on their books. Such youths depend on drugs as
their sources of joy and pain relievers. In some cases, they feel
incomplete without taking these drugs and this can be observed in
the way they shiver and other queer firm of behaviour. It can even
be worse if they are overwhelmed by these illicit substances and
become mentally unbalanced.
Drug addiction in general affects the brain. The brain is a
sensitive part of the body which is wired to make one want to
repeat experiences that make him/her feel good. Such a feeling
motivates that person to do it again and again. Over time, when the
brain gets used to such drugs, the abuser continues to take more of
such to get the same good feeling. Meanwhile, things an abuser used
to enjoy like food, games and inter-personal relationships would be
pushed to the background. When the usage of such drugs continues
for a long period of time, it can cause a change in other brain
chemical circuits and in turn hurt the victim’s judgment, ability
to learn, decision making and memory.
Youths should cultivate the habit of reading without necessarily
taking drugs or stimulants. Those who are already consuming such
drugs can stop when the zeal and determination to quit is there. It
would be difficult to quit at once. It has to be through a gradual
process which requires time but all the same, with determination an
abuser can quit completely.
Parents are advised to always keep an eye on their children and
also monitor their behaviour. This will enable them to detect any
change. There is also the need for thorough investigation on the
kind of friends children keep so that they are not exposed to peer
group pressure and bad company.
in as much as the government is try its best to curb drug abuse and
addiction amongst members of the society through the ministry of
Health and NDLEA, other means should also be adopted in order to
minimize or even completely halt drug addiction in the society.
In conclusion, youths are advised to engage in skill
acquisitions, businesses and concentrate more on their studies
which will in turn pave way for success and greater achievement in
future rather than resorting to drugs which yields nothing good but
causes madness, teenage pregnancy, prostitution leading to
transmission of STDs, HIV/AIDS, loss of friends and family, desire
to commit crimes like stealing, murder,rape and so on.
By Maryam Maina Wagami
University of Maiduguri
Department of Mass of Communication.
………………………..……………………………………………………………………………….
DZarma Bitrus
Unimaid
Government Must Combat Drug Abuse among
Youth
By Dzarma Bitrus
Drug abuse has become a status symbol among Nigerian youths. The
sad story is that drug abuse among Nigerian youths involves both
males and females.
For every obstacle to be dealt with in the community one should
examine the causes. By so doing this will give him or her the
solutions.
Therefore, the question arises: what are the causes of drug
abuse by Nigerian youths?
Some of the causes of drug abuse among youths are trauma or
abuse, mental illness, low self-esteem, poverty, relationship
problems, loss of a loved one, stress, chronic pain or medical
conditions among others. But the main cause among ladies is the
loss of a loved one or relationship problems while stress is the
main cause of drug abuse among men.
The issue is how can government curb the menace of drug abuse?
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control
must be highly commended for reducing the consumption of drugs
without a doctor’s prescription. But does this totally eliminate
drug abuse among Nigerian youths? The answer is definitely in the
negative. Then what is another way to deal with this trend?
The government should start with the top politicians who are
suspected to be drug addicts. Also, security agencies should arrest
and prosecute persons who employ youths as thugs. There is a
tendency for these thugs to abuse drugs before embarking on their
destructive missions. In the long run, they are usually abandoned
by their sponsors. Government should impose heavy sanctions on
anyone sponsoring thuggery.
Sensitization on the effects, dangers and implications of drug
abuse should be done by the government using different media such
as radio, television, posters, handbills, fliers and social media.
I believe these can reach many youths. By so doing it will restrain
youths who desire to abuse drugs.
More rehabilitation centres should be established and the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency should arrest and reorientate drug
addicts.
The government should send psychologists for special training in
order for them to be well-equipped ti give proper advice to drug
addicts at rehabilitation centres.
The government should provide skills acquisition centres for
repentant drug addicts.
If the government can apply this little opinion and add some
more other measures in tackling drug abuse among Nigerian youths,
it is believed that the menace will reduce.
My call to Nigerian youths is for them not to abuse drugs. It is
not the way out of any problem. It is rather a problem in
itself.
Dzarma Bitrus
Department of Mass Communication University of
Maiduguri
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Abdulrahman
Yahaya UDUS
Still on Worrisome Drug Abuse In Nigeria
By Abdulrahman Yahaya
Enslaved in the world of intoxicants, preoccupied by the
frivolity of struggling to get ‘high’; being broke never stops
these addicts — their urge to drink syrup is one that can never be
suppressed.
They gulp drugs devotedly like it is some substance prescribed
by the Almighty God; a day without quaffing the ‘holy water’ is a
day to forget in a hurry. What a terrible day it would be! For
them, life is really not complete without ingesting the substances
that make them ‘high’. This is the sad condition of drug addicts.
Pathetic!
An addict in need of hard drugs is one who is ready to steal to
get them. This is why the Federal Government should be strict in
the battle against drug abuse. Abusing syrups doesn’t only render
the youths useless, it also pushes them into committing various
vices.
It took a documentary by the BBC on the scourge of drug abuse in
Nigeria to make the Federal Government aware of this societal ill
that had already become chronic. It immediately announced a ban on
an abused cough syrup, Codeine. But how has this helped in curbing
the scourge? In all fairness, the ban on Codeine did nothing more
than make headlines. Yes!
Codeine syrup is now sold in different bottles. Cough syrups
like Benelyn, Emzolyn, Tutolin Pakalin, C and C (cough and cold)
etc. are still very much available. These syrups, if consumed
heavily, do the same job as codeine. And the culprits that sell
them do it confidently because there are obviously little chances
of their being caught. The government can do better than just
banning Codeine. There should be serious surveillance on these
syrups.
The Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug
Abuse (PACEDA), led by Gen. Buba Marwa (retd) has done more of
touring states and airports than proffering drastic measures to
curbing the scourge of drug abuse. What happens to sensitising the
youths and parents alike on drug abuse? What about looking into the
operations of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)? It
is alleged that some rogue NDLEA agents abuse drugs.
Under the pretext of doing their jobs, these persons transact with
jungle men — hard drug mongers. The Marwa committee should
therefore look into the operations of the agency.
Most importantly, an idle mind, is said, is the devil’s
workshop. Unemployment is a major factor pushing youths into social
vices like drug abuse. The government should provide job
opportunities that will be open to all and sundry. Prevention, they
say, is better than cure.
Abdulrahman Yahaya
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Habibu Bawa
Unimaid
The Growing Concerns on Drug Abuse
By: Habibu Bawa
Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari through his Senior Special
Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, released a happy
Eidl-fitr message. He urged Nigerians to sustain the virtues and
teachings of Ramadan beyond celebration and cautioned them against
going back to bad ways to avoid losing the essence and lessons
Ramadan is meant to inculcate.
This call is however necessary at this time as some youths are
eagerly waiting for it to return to their miserable life of self
prescription, over dose and self medication without regards to
medically or culturally accepted patterns.
The rate of drug abuse among Nigerian youths is alarming and the
situation is now more worrisome because years ago, drug abuse has
always been among male youths whom are most likely to be heavy
labourers or from accidental administrations. It is now common
among young people of both genders and even students of Tertiary
Institutions of learnings take sedatives to relieve them of stress
and stimulants that boost energy to stay awake overnight for night
readings without medical prescription.
These however have severe effects to their physical, mental and
psychological health.
According to information from the National Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and Control and the National Institute for Drug
Abuse, misuse and abuse of sedatives like sleeping pills and
antidepressants cause a decrease in motor performance, mild
depression and poor recall of details and events for a period of
time. This, however, will make the youth lazy and unproductive and
affects the intellectual and academic well-being of any
student.
Stimulants on the other hand whom are mainly from caffeine cause
Euphoria – a feeling of excess happiness and normalcy preventing
the addict from noticing any change in his well-being, exaggerated
confidence, mental retardation, loss of weight and increase in
consumption of food.
As a nation struggling to improve it’s economic status by
reducing poverty amongst it’s citizens, Nigeria must ensure proper
production, distribution and administration of all drugs as the
growth of every society depends on it’s labour force.
Apart from the medical implications, drug addiction is an issue
of public concern, drug addicts threaten the public peace, steal
and vandalize public properties making life unbearable to young and
elderly in the society.
Nigeria as a country has agencies for the control of sales and
administration of drugs, a council that regulates production, a
body for professionals that prescribe drugs but should we say that
is all? Never! There’s the need to ban illiterates from hawking and
retailing of drugs to avoid sales of fake and expired drugs,
restrict sales of drugs to registered pharmacies and collaborate
with the community, religious and non-governmental organizations.
Every form of addiction is bad but the worst is drug addiction
which in itself causes drug resistance. THE TIME TO CURB THIS
MENACE IS NOW!
Habibu Bawa
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
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Arafat and
Faisal BUK
Tackling Youth Unemployment in Nigeria
By: Abdulrazaq Arafat & Faisal Saminu Magaji
Youth unemployment is the unemployment of young people, defined
by the United Nations as 15–24 years old. An unemployed person is
defined as someone who does not have a job but is actively seeking
work.
Youth unemployment has become a nightmare in Nigeria. In Nigeria
young people account for two-thirds of Nigeria’s unemployed and
underemployed. According to the 2016 Global Youth Development
Index, Nigeria ranked 158th out of 183 countries in the domain of
employment and opportunities.
One unique feature of the economic growth problem in Nigeria is
its inability to create more jobs. Considering the growing youth
population, estimated to reach 135 million by 2020, this is a
significant concern. With the high rate of youth unemployment in
Nigeria it has and is still a major setback to the country. Youths
are found wandering all around the country with no jobs.
Universities produce thousands of students every year and thus keep
adding to the unemployment rate. This has pushed many youths into
social vices.
The situation has also caused a reduction in the national output
of goods and services, increased rural-urban migration, high level
of poverty, a higher number of dependent people and a worrisome
crime rate.
One of them is the rapid growth in population. There has been an
increase in the growth of the labour force along with the
inadequate supply of jobs. The rapid population growth has been
coupled with rural-urban migration. This has increased the
population in cities thereby raising the level of joblessness.
Another key problem is poor leadership and high level of
corruption in Nigeria. The failure of the government to perform
their constitutional duties has resulted in the high level of
unemployment. Also, the high level of corruption in Nigeria among
politicians has resulted in the mismanagement of the funds and
resources supposed to be used for the creation of job opportunities
for the people.
To overcome the crisis of unemployment in Nigeria, governments
at all levels must be effective in performing their duties. A
socio-economic environment should be created. The government needs
to foresee looming crises and take all possible actions to prevent
them. It is also very important to understand the scope and types
of unemployment in Nigeria.
The government should consider each sector of the economy and
provide the necessary infrastructure and industrial friendly
environment. Agriculture is one of the major sectors and the
government has to do everything possible to attract private
investors. This will lead to creating new job opportunities.
Abdulrazaq Arafat & Faisal Saminu
Magaji
Faculty of Communication, Bayero University
Kano
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Anthony Ojomor
BUK
Tackling youth unemployment in Nigeria
By Anthonia Ojoma Adejoh
Youth unemployment has become a very big issue in Nigeria. It is
recurring decimal and no permanent solution has been found by our
leaders.
This issue has made many people especially undergraduates, to
indulge in unwholesome conduct.
Unemployment has affected our country in many ways. Students no
longer crave for first class degrees. Suicide is a major problem
arising from unemployment. Another problem is internet fraud or
Yahoo Yahoo. Parents expect that their children will be gainfully
employed after graduation, but this has often not been the
case.
I blame this issue on the nation’s leaders. Some of them are
selfish and keep saying they have no solution to the menace. In my
opinion, this issue can be resolved/reduced in several ways if only
the government can put the following into consideration.
In the public sector, there are men and women who have worked
for years and even made money. Such people can retire and allow the
youths to take over from where they stopped.
Tertiary institutions have a lot of old lecturers who can step
down for the young ones to take over. We have many capable students
graduating yearly from various tertiary institutions, even with
first class. They should be trained and retained in their fields of
study as lecturers.
The government and private sector players should look at the
potentials of skill acquisitions and entrepreneurship and engage
the youth to be more productive. It is a waste of valuable talent
for educated youths to be engaged as menial jobs or porters going
by the usual fanfare of donating carts or shoe making tools at
empowerment ceremonies.
Graduates should be empowered with relevant tools to their
studies. For instance, those who studied food and nutrition can be
equipped with ovens and other necessary tools. Same for various
field of studies.
Nigeria has many areas where they can engage to practise their
professions. Government should adopt methods used by other
countries to create jobs. More factories should be established
where youths can be gainfully employed. Employable youths should be
trained on how to convert natural resources into viable products
for export.
Providing an enabling environment will by extension create job
opportunities for teeming youths. I have hope in Nigeria again.
Anthonia Ojoma Adejoh
Faculty of Communication
Bayero University Kano
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Mohammad
Dahiru Lawal BUK
Nigerian Youth: Weathering the Storm of Unemployment
Paradox
By Mohammad Dahiru Lawal
For Nigerian youths, the social contract of job security between
them and Government is no longer a guaranteed currency. That we are
coming from a past where the youths easily got jobs along with
attractive remuneration into a future of diminishing prospects is a
sad tale. The unemployment paradox is also an indication of
challenges ahead for Nigerian youths.
Today’s youths are constantly struggling with psychological
crisis, stuck in a dilemma of what tomorrow holds. This is in an
age where their peers around the world are competing on new
innovative and developmental fortes.
As far as excellence goes, it is easy to see that the bulk of
Nigerian youths have failed on two fronts; it’s generational
responsibility to be actively involved in defining the polity and
policies that shape the growth and development of progressive
nationality and the failure to fulfill their role as a pivotal
fulcrum to National economic growth and development. This is not
because of lack of capacity but because of a systemic failure to
optimise the core of the Nigerian youth for efficiency.
Unemployment in Nigeria therefore is a concentrated cancer
anchored on greedy exploitation by the political class and enabled
on three levers:
One, the lack of an enabling environment that provides the
opportunity for youths to do things in different ways on different
scales, to explore and to exploit potential.
Two, unstable and ineffectual policies which frustrate most
startups inspired by enterprising youths. Token initiatives such as
Sure-P and YouWin have come and gone with past administrations,
N-Power is still hanging. More worrisome is that these schemes have
no measurable impact on reducing the volume of unemployed
youths.
Lastly, the low number of Industries. Oil and Gas is supposed to
be a secondary cash cow to Nigeria where iron and steel stands.
Today, the multi-million dollar Ajaokuta steel company which can
employ over 40,000 direct and indirect workers in full operational
capacity is sitting on a large sprawling expanse of Kogi land,
wasted!
Truth be told, the civil service can no longer provide many jobs
and it is definitely not the future of an economically backward
country.
Government and well meaning individuals need to stop paying lip
service to unemployment. One model that can quickly arrest this
situation is for us to go back to each of the 774 Local Government
areas of Nigeria and identify persons in each ward with viable
business models that can employ a sizeable number of people within
the given area. These business proposals should be creative,
innovative and tuned to modern world realty. Government should fund
these start-ups with periodic evaluation and watch Nigeria blossom
into a new economic reality.
As the storm gathers, if we continue on the old trajectory, it’s
either the Nigerian Government finally gets to destroy the Nigerian
Youth totally or the Nigerian Youth gets to destroy the Nigerian
Government absolutely!
Mohammad Dahiru Lawal
Faculty of Mass-Communication
Bayero University Kano
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Bashir Turawa
UDUS
Youth Unemployment: Between Yesterday and
Today
By Bashir Turawa
“Nigeria was once a great country”, so our fathers say. “During
our days as students, employment was guaranteed immediately after
graduation,” they would add. But how did we come about the
difference between Nigeria of the eighties and of the present? Why
are there fewer job opportunities for graduates these days? It is a
fact that the level of youth unemployment in Nigeria is
alarming.
Nigeria of today has no plan for youths especially in the aspect
of employment. When students have put in their best efforts in
school, the expectation from the government is to have a headway
irrespective of the discipline. Unfortunately, we graduate and find
out that there is no employment opportunities.
While the president of a particular country congratulates all
graduates in the country, assuring them of suitable employment,
ours said it blatantly that our certificates are useless such that
they can’t even fetch us a daily meal. Day by day, youths lose
interests in education, showing little or no seriousness toward
their studies due to the fact that education no longer guarantee
success in our country of today. “School na scam” is what they
resolve to, there by engaging in different forms of illegality in
making money on internet.
What brought about the issue of youth unemployment in Nigeria
might be negligence on the part of the government; there is no
proper monitoring in distributing the not-suffient employment
opportunities.
Diving into the acts of our academics in various higher
institutions of learning, we find out that most of our professors
and senior lecturers, after being paid their monthly salaries in
their various institutions of work, still work as visiting
lecturers in other institutions, thereby blocking opportunities
that would have been available to young graduates. This same set of
people are always the ones that talking about the beauty of the
eighties in terms of good and adequate opportunities to
students.
In curbing the menace of youth unemployment in Nigeria, it is
expected of the government to have records of all graduates at
least on a yearly basis. This will in a long way help the
government to know the number of people that need jobs.
This will also help the government in drawing out its plans in
tackling unemployment.
The menace of double employment and ghost workers should be
treated with urgency because it is one of the main reasons why we
have a large number of unemployed youths. This can be solved by
putting all workers to screening so as to know the actual number of
active works in the civil service.
It is expected of the government to ensure that students who may
want to be self-employed after graduation are equipped with
necessary trainings and finance. This will enlarge employment
opportunities because there will be need for such self employed
graduates to recruit other graduates in various capacities.
Bashiru Turawa
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Taoheed
Adegbite UDUS
Unemployment: May Ours Not Be
By Taoheed A. Adegbite
Complaining less of the scourge of unemployment in Nigeria is
just like acting as the silly ostrich – pretending all is well with
our nation. Yearly, the scourge keep posing as ailment for
well-meaning Nigerians to be worried about. Though, there is no
occurrence without causation. Oops! With its past seemingly
impotent panacea – one would without doubt, believe the case of
Nigeria is different and doomed.
Meanwhile, no matter how complicated it seems – for its effects
remains a semblance of a bird perching on a rope – neither the rope
nor the fowl has peace of mind. Apart from ordinary citizens paying
overdue night tax to the jobless, banditry and other forms of
insecurity Nigeria faces today arise from the high rate of
unemployment.
Over 500,000 graduates are churned out from Nigerian higher
institutions yearly. But due to the harshness of our business
environment (exchange rate, tax and unfriendly loan interest) and
low technological advancement – rate of job-seekers flare-up
yearly. It’s really painful that percentage of unemployed youth in
Nigeria is a double the population of some West African countries.
With 36.5 percents of unemployed ratio , to Nigeria population as
at 2018 according to TradingEconomics – that’s almost in twofold of
the total population of Ghana – a 25 million populated West African
country – like a stone-throw to Nigeria.
May ours not be like that man who lives on the banks of Niger,
but still wash his hands with spittle. Deceptive. With unemployment
and its problematic entourage – is ours not like such? Meanwhile,
Nigeria is so endowed and resourceful than to be shoved to the mire
of unemployment. But who would appease the greedy vulture fueling
our cost of governance, that there is no certainty the center can
behold things fallen apart in this country?
Nigeria education is a semblance of stealing wheelless cars
around. From where to where? It’s not funny permanent lecturers in
our universities on payroll of four to five other higher
institutions – visiting lecturers. Aside from its contribution to
the sub-optimal quality of graduates, it’s also head-aching
thinking of a single lecturer working in five universities while
thousands of competent Masters and P.hd holders sell yoghurt on our
highways. In the midst of this schooling scam, there is also a need
to incorporate lack of synergy between supply and demand for
graduates in the Nigerian labour market.
This isn’t an indication that government has been folding arms.
At least, with past intervention programmes, for instance; Nigeria
Directorate of Employment, National Poverty alleviation programmes,
SURE-P and the present N-POWER – all these have never been so
effective due to lack of national employment policy.
May ours not be. Only if government pay attention to the
causative factors mentioned above. It’s also pertinent for the
greediness in our education sector to be curbed – freedom for
public university lectors as visiting lecturers in many
universities should be restricted. For it would not only reduce the
percentage of half-baked graduates yearly, but also make way for
employment opportunities.
Taoheed A. Adegbite
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Jamila Tilde BUK
Youth Unemployment Triggers Insecurity
By Jamila Hussain tilde
Unemployment is a term referring to individuals who are
employable and seeking a job but are unable to find a job. In
Nigeria youth unemployment is an issue of greater concern that many
graduates after education could not find job.
Some effects of unemployment include health-related issues that
can lead to depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and other mental
disorder. It also encourages social vices as many crimes are
committed by individuals who are unemployed and living in poverty.
When unemployment rate increase, crime rate tends to rise.
The increasing rate drug addictions, armed robbery, kidnapping
and other vices could be attributed to lack of jobs for the
perpetrators. In a nutshell unemployment is a ticking bomb which
must not explode on our face.
The Nigerian government should be held responsible for failing
to tackle the challenge of unemployment among Nigerian youths.
I believe the government should create an enabling environment
by investing in the productive sectors, diversifying the economy,
funding vocational trainings and motivating young entrepreneurs
with accessible capitals.
I strongly believe the government can intervene in creating jobs
by considering the following:
The government should pay more attention to the agricultural
sector by providing incentives and soft loans to farmers since the
agriculture is the second largest employer of labour in
Nigeria.
The government should also pay more attention to professional
education and vocational trainings for skill acquisitions towards
job creation.
Infrastructure development is another area that youths can be
engaged as workers through effective policy formulation. For
instance, contractors for road construction, housing development,
railway rehabilitation among others should be encouraged to employ
the service of youths, especially unemployed graduates, not only
for remuneration but for on the job training to develop their
skills.
And lastly the government should know the causes of unemployment
and know how to tackle it because it affects us in many ways. Which
include increase in population, rapid technological change, lack of
education or skills.
Government should join hands to provide jobs for unemployed
people, mostly made up of youths if we all wish to sleep with our
eyes closed
Jamila Hussain tilde
Faculty of Mass Communication
Bayero University Kano