Angst over spiralling graduate unemployment
Confidence crisis has become a norm whenever measures to address issues are announced as such tinkering measures look good in the papers but end up being dogged by bureaucracy.
Recently, the Minister of Youth Development Bolaji Abdullahi during his visit to the orientation camp of the Batch C 2011 youth corps members, disclosed that arrangements would be put in place as from next year so that organisations in the private sector seeking the services of youth corps members would also commit themselves to giving them jobs after the service year.
Youth unemployment is no doubt one of the biggest problems threatening the productivity and growth of the Nigerian nation, considering its inability to adequately engage the teeming youth population in the country.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, recent statistics show that unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 23.9 per cent during the first half of the year. In addition to the already daunting statistics of over 43 million unemployed youth, an additional 1.8 million people joined the long queue.
The Bureau attributed the rise in the ranks of the nation’s unemployed to fresh entrants to the job market and worker layoffs across all sectors of the economy in the year.
The Guardian investigations show that even the organised private sector is ill-equipped to absorb the upsurge of corps members, about 95,000 of whom were recently called up, in two batches, to accommodate a backlog. Worried by the surge in the unemployment figures, government and several stakeholders have noted that if the present unpleasant situation continues, a systemic collapse is imminent.
As laudable as the move by the Youth Minister to tackle the growing rate of unemployment in the country through the proposed post-service employment among other initiatives, some Nigerians and analysts have questioned the workability of the proposal as well as government’s commitment and sincerity to the exercise.
It would be recalled the same minister had earlier in September, while speaking at a media briefing marking President Jonathan’s first 100 days in office, said youth corps members will no longer be deployed to privately owned establishments for their one year mandatory service as the move was tantamount to using government resources to sustain the private companies.
According to him, government resources could not be used to sustain private organisations, as 90 per cent of his ministry’s budget is spent on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) alone.
To some analysts, the questions lie in the feasibility of the proposed post-service employment of corps members if they are not posted to private companies and the process of ensuring that the organised private sector retains corps members even when the members of the sector do not have the capability to do so, as well as the type of precedence the minister might be establishing, considering the number of graduates turned out by higher institutions in Nigeria yearly.
Presently, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has three batches of graduates mobilised for its orientation programme at various periods in a year. This is done to address the teeming number of graduates churned out by Nigerian higher institutions.
However, NYSC currently faces many challenges, some of which include underfunding, large number of graduates above what was anticipated by founders of the programme, and rejection of NYSC corps members on primary assignment. The biggest challenge confronting the scheme today is the issue of post service employment, while the restiveness in many Northern states has made security of corps members’ lives similarly important.
Some analysts in their reaction noted that the NYSC scheme is a sound policy going haywire. Its entire process has been subverted. Other government projects have suffered policy somersaults, but the major setback of the NYSC scheme, principally targeted at graduates of tertiary institutions, is the apparent lack of renewed official initiatives to monitor and propel it.
To them, the scheme’s relative failure is indirectly a failure of the state and/or governance. The laudable scheme is almost reduced to nothingness, as the raw talents of corps members are not being utilised.
“Most times, the ordeal of participants starts from the less-than-acceptable standards at some orientation camps, followed by the mass rejection in places of primary assignments. Soon, the youths are thrown into confusion and are disoriented. The rejection marks the beginning of a year of real suffering for a fatherland that cares less. Many corps members, in anticipation of rejection and other problems, embark on desperate measures to change their postings. Those who are lucky to be attached are soon confronted by accommodation problems and end up milling aimlessly around the NYSC offices.”
“Inevitably, their situation serves as incentive to corruption and cutting of corners – much against the spirit of the scheme. Notwithstanding the problems that occasion rejection of corps members, ministries, government departments and agencies (MDAs) should not work to frustrate such a laudable scheme. They should accommodate corps members,” the analysts added.
Recently, The Guardian Newspaper Nigeria and The Guardian UK coincidentally published the current unemployment figures in Nigeria and Britain, respectively. The Guardian Nigeria reported on the rising rate of unemployment and inflation in the country as provided in the figures of the National Bureau of Statistics.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the current statistics postulates that the number of jobless youth between 16 to 24 years old is now 1.02 million.
The Guardian UK noted thus: “The Office for National Statistics said that there were a total 2.62 million unemployed people in the quarter, the highest total since 1994. That left the unemployment rate at a bigger than expected 8.3 per cent, the highest since 1996”. This equally means that at the end of the next semester or session additional young people are churned out of academic institutions, with “high hopes” of employment opportunities.
In his reaction, former Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc and Chairman, Bankers Warehouse, Mr. Felix Ohiwerei, noted that companies will absorb corps members according to their needs and in deciding whom to employ, the companies will apply the criteria, which are already spelt out. However, companies cannot take more people than they can accommodate.
“The minister is doing his job and he is encouraging employers to make opportunities available to reduce the level of unemployment in the country. We are all Nigerians and we are witnesses to the level of unemployment in the country and it is in our interest that this should be reduced. But, establishments cannot be forced to take more than they need”, he added.
On his part, a senior lecturer at the Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, Dr. Ayobami Ojebode said, “You cannot force the private sector to retain corps members. What if they haven’t enough funds to pay salaries? But you can work out a deal. If a corps member wants to stay on, government can then give tax exemption to the employing company or something like that. You cannot decree certain things into existence.”
An undergraduate with one of the Nigerian state universities, Miss Yetunde Aibuki noted: “If the Federal Government wants the private sector to retain corps members, government at all levels should make sure similar provisions are made for corps members serving at government parastatals. However, the private sector can only absorb people they can afford to employ. The only thing I do not subscribe to is the issue of putting a stop to posting corps members to the private sector, because government cannot absorb all the corps members.”
To Nonye Amaechi, “I think getting the private sector to retain corps members is a great idea. At least graduates who have excelled during their service year will be exempted from trekking the streets of Nigeria seeking for jobs. When you add graduates who also have ‘connections’ to the exemption list, I think the remaining jobs may go a long way to reduce the number of unemployed graduates in the country, especially those who were unable to get good places for their primary assignments during their service years.”
According to Adetola Adenekan, “unwilling private employers who agree to retain corps members may decide to make corps members work for meagre wages. This further lays a bad precedence for other employers who seek cheap labour. It is better the minister makes more informed decisions.”
Mayowa Nunayon added that, “The whole idea is just unrealistic. I wonder how the Federal Government intends to achieve this. The essence of NYSC is no longer valid. It is obvious that our leaders lack focus and are terribly confused.” culled from The Guardian newspaper, Dec 6., 2011
Angst over spiralling graduate unemployment
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