Senate raises concerns
Senate raises concerns on mounting unemployment in the
country
…Wants FG to initiate unemployment Fund
…Calls for revitalization of existing industries
The Senate on Wednesday waded into the issue of unemployment in
the country and recommended solutions to the executive arm of
government for adoption and implementation.
Accordingly, the upper chamber while urging the Federal, State
and Local government to declare emergency on the provision of
employment across the country, called on the Ministry of National
Planning to put a mechanism and programme in place to achieve
this.
The Senate, which advised the Federal, States and Local
Governments to revitalize existing industries, urged the executive
arm to initiate sustainable employment fund for the payment of
stipends to unemployed Nigerians until such persons secure
employment.
These were resolutions reached after consideration of a motion
on the “Escalating Rate of Employment in the Country”, sponsored by
Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
Ekweremadu, who brought the motion to the floor through reliance
on orders 42 and 52 of the Senate standing rules, lamented that the
large number of graduates from high institutions of learning in the
country yearly without jobs is a “time bomb waiting to
explode”.
Citing a report published by the National Bureau of Statistics
in 2019, Senator Ekweremadu stated that Nigeria’s unemployment rate
stood at 23.1 percent of the work force in the third quarter of
2019.
Quoting the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige,
the lawmaker raised alarm that that Nigeria’s unemployment rate
will hit 33.5 percent by 2020.
“Any nation with such number of unemployed but employable youths
is only sitting on a keg of gun powder.
“The most pressing demand on the hand of every legislator and
public officer is the rising number of curriculum vitae and
application for employment from constituent Nigerians.
“A situation where every school graduate has to queue up for job
only in government offices is an indication of the breakdown of
private sector which is the major driver of world economies.
The lawmaker added that unemployed Nigerian youths with
potential talents “lying idle and wasting away are usually
misdirected toward many unprofitable and harmful ventures and
lifestyles.”
He said that the most active percentage of the nation’s
population is forcefully kept away from participating in the
economic development of their fatherland and contributing toward
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by unemployment.
Attributing the high level of crime in any society to the high
rate of unemployment, Ekweremadu stated that “unemployment is one
of the major causes of upsurge in rural-urban migration which put
pressure on facilities at the urban centres.
“Unemployment is one of the major reasons why insurgency,
kidnapping, armed robbery, Cybercrimes and other vices are on the
increase.”
Senator Istifanus Gyang (PDP, Plateau North), in his
contribution, described unemployment as “a monster that, if we
(Nigerians) are not careful, can consume us as a nation.”
Another lawmaker, Olubunmi Adetumbi (APC, Ekiti North) decried
the inability of the private sector to address the escalating rate
of unemployed persons in the country.
According to him, the government on the other hand lacks the
capacity to create jobs, as doing so would create an expansion in
the fiscal responsibility of government.
Signed:
Ezrel Tabiowo
Special Assistant (Press)
to President of the Senate