One problem that has assumed a scary status all over the
world is unemployment. Both advanced and developing nations dread the
unemployment monster like the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. But while
the developed world are pushing initiatives to curb the menace, unemployment
appears to have assumed an incurable height in developing world.

Since the 1930s when the economy of the United States pulled
out of the worst recession, successive administrations in America have kept the
unemployment rate at the lowest ebb. In spite of its present economic
recession, America’s visceral reaction remains the same: “Give me a decent job
and I will take care of myself.”

It is against this backdrop that US President Barack Obama
last year, made a direct appeal to the US Congress to push forward his
administration’s initiatives to help small scale business. The focus of his
appeal, was “how do we create jobs.”

Aids for small businesses has been the focus of Obama’s
attempt to encourage job growth. This initiative has helped to push America’s
unemployment rate down to about  9.5 per
cent.

The story is, however, different in African countries, with
Nigeria as an axample. Recent United Nations statistics show that only about
five per cent of the fresh Nigerian graduates are able to secure good jobs
after the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), while about 15 per cent make do
with jobs that could hardly earn them a good living. The remaining 80 per cent
are said to be in unemployment market.

Everywhere you go to in the country; the story is the same,
with the preponderance of “No vacancy” strategically and conspicuously placed
at the entrance gates of companies. The metropolitan cities are the most
affected. Just as the economic vagaries have made cities in the country a Mecca
of some sorts for destitute and beggars, the toll of unemployment has made many
fresh Nigerian graduates relocate from their immediate environment to some
cities like Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt considered to be more economically
viable.

Lately however, these so-called lands of fortunes have also
developed a talon to kill, as many young graduates now roam about the streets
in search of jobs that do not exist.

Today, getting a job to keep body and soul together is like
searching for oasis in the desert. Young graduates  are the most affected. The unemployment
situation in the country has made many of them to take to menial jobs while a
large number of them have even taken to some criminal activities like
kidnapping, armed robbery, female prostitution, touting and political thuggery
etc.

But how did Nigeria come about this ugly situation called
unemployment, considering the fact that in the 1970s, companies were the ones
looking for people to employ?

I think the ugly trend of unemployment could be blamed on
poverty of leadership in Nigeria. That the nation is adrift in providing jobs
for its teeming youths is a symptom of a larger defect.

Since the Second Republic when Nigeria started having the
problem of poor leadership, the country’s once buoyant economy has been in the
doldrums. With the economy getting worse, many companies began to fold up,
while the surviving ones could only employ an insignificant number of the
population.  Today, the demand for labour
is a drop in the ocean of unemployed population. There are hundreds of
thousands of job applicants chasing tens of available jobs.

The situation is made worse by the closure of many banks
which, before now, helped to mop up the labour market. With five or more banks
collapsing into one due to economic recession, tens of thousands of workers are
thrown back into the labour market.

There is no doubt that the resources available in the
country, if managed well, are enough to provide jobs for all eligible
Nigerians. But since those who are saddled with the responsibility of
creating  jobs are busy exploiting their
offices to amass wealth at the expense of the downtrodden masses, Nigeria is
now reduced to a country that makes one ill.

What is more, the surviving companies have decided to employ
the services of computers which now reduce the number of labour to be employed.
Most of the jobs that could be done by professionals are now being done by
computers at a cheaper rate and under a considerable number of hours.

It would be recalled that in its bid to address the question
of unemployment in the country, the Federal Government, as far back as 1986,
initiated a self-employment scheme, with the National Directorate of Employment
(NDE) as its operator.  Twenty-six years
after its establishment, the problem of unemployment still subsists and even
grows in strength; more especially as institutions of higher learning churn out
more graduates on annual basis.

The truth is that, with an average of 250,000 graduates
produced by our universities alone each year, Nigeria is confronted with the
options of either to provide them meaningful jobs or risks the dangers inherent
in these youths resorting to self-help in a criminal way.

Boye Salau