What is unemployment? It is  a situation whereby
an active person is without a job. Unemployment rate is usually used to measure the health and wealth of the economy of a nation.
The most frequently cited measure of checking unemployment is the unemployment rate. This is the number of persons in the labour market, divided by the number of persons in the labour force. This gives the number of persons without job.
Indeed, unemployment is an ugly phenomenon that plagues economies around the world. The society and citizenry  suffer adversely while poverty increases by virtue of it.
When a nation has high unemployment rate, it creates room for societal ills and or vices. No economy can thrive with high level of unemployment.
The consequences of unemployment are grave and as such  need to be checked. Take for instance, Nigeria where unemployment is high. This development is on the increase and it is the citizens that suffer the effect.
The rate of unemployed persons walking in the streets is nothing to write home about. Unemployment remains the major reasons for the increasing crime rate in Nigeria.
The youth restiveness in the Niger Delta, Boko Haram menace in the north are all traceable to the high unemployment rate. Niger Delta youths take up arms and sometimes kidnap law-abiding Nigerians because of this same unemployment. They seem to have no other option but to commit crime.
Arms struggle in the Niger Delta region is as a result of the activities of selfish and unscrupulous politicians who seek to win election at all costs. These politicians acquire arms for unemployed youths to cause mayhem during election, intimidate the electorate and manipulate election results in their favour.
When the politicians use these boys they end up being unable to retrieve the guns they purchased for them for the dirty work. This results in violence and the commission of crime as the youths use the guns in search of livelihood. Acquisition of arms for unemployed youths is ne thing; retrieving it from them is another.
With guns lurking every nook and cranny in the Niger Delta, pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, armed robbery, cultism etc. have assumed dangerous dimension.  Communities that play host to multinational companies and oil bearing communities begin to clamour for resource control.
Since the federal government is unyielding to the demands and plight of the Niger Deltans who have suffered all forms of environmental degradation, pollution of ground water, the boys took to militancy and kidnapping.
People do not just go about kidnapping other people for fun. A kidnap plan takes time. Strategies are employed on how to carry out the scheme to avert being caught. This act of kidnapping itself is a job for those who perpetrate it and they earn their living from it because there is no job.
Militancy and kidnapping are two criminal activities carried out in the south and Boko Haran  activities in the north east are spelling doom for our economy. The economy is in shambles. Militants go about vandalizing oil pipelines and installations as well as kidnapping expatriates. On the other hand, Boko Haram comes out with intensive bombings and sectarian violence. The polity is heated up and the economy is adversely affected.
The reign of hiseunty and temor cannot allow for economic growth. Unemployment, rather than being curbed is on the increase. Companies are either folding or moving out in droves to safer countries owing to threats from militants. Boko Haram is against Western education and education is a major tool for a person’s employability.
As a matter of fact, to remain employable, one has to acquire Western education. If Western education is sin, adherents of Islam may be disenchanted with having it. The implication of this is that in the long run, those who subscribe to Abubaken Shelkan’s ideology will remain perpetual illiterates and therefore unemployable.
If militants and Boko Haram adherents are educated, they should know better than indulging in social vices. If unemployment reduces, most youths will have the opportunity to give their quota to the development of the country.
The government should, therefore rise up to its responsibility. Corruption should be completely eliminated from the system to pave way for the creation of jobs in the country.
Let measures be put in place to create jobs. If there are jobs, Nigerians can work and school at the same time. Parents with jobs can send their children to school. Crime will then be diminished while our country will be  better for it.
Ogwama writes from Port Harcourt.

Margret Ogwama