Union Laments High Rate Of Unemployment

The Association of Senior
Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has bemoaned the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria presently.
The National President of the Union, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama stated this recently in Lagos at the Union’s National Executive Council  (NEC) meeting.
Kaigama said that it is sad to note that  more than 70 million  Nigerian youths are without job, stressing that unemployment remains one of the critical  challenges confronting the country as millions of unemployed Nigerian youths roam the streets without any means of livelihood.
He said that the National Bureau of statistics (NBS) index indicated that unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 12.1 percent in the first  quarter of 2016 from 10.4 per cent  in the last year of 2015 and underemployment rate also grew to 19.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 from 18.7 per cent  in the last quarter of 2015,adding that in January 2016, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) passed a damung verdict  on the capacity of the Nigerian economy to create jobs.
He stressed that Nigeria presently  is at a boiling point as far as the rate of joblessness is concerned and urgent measures need to be taken to arrest this ugly trend.
The union leader said  that the rate of unemployment in the country had created a breeding ground  for largely unengaged youths   to serve as willing tools for perpetrators of political  and economic violence  which is presently spreading all across the country.
He said that the government  needed  to set out goals in the employment creation agenda to solve  unemployment  problems
He called on the government to carry out urgent economic overhauls  and innovation policy changes, adding that the government should make  the economy more competitive and attractive to investors by providing basic infrastructure and access to finance with  specific  attention to agriculture.
On the issue of workers contributory pension funds, the union leader noted that the workers contributory pension funds has accumulated up to 5.3 trillion.
He said the fund was purely workers money   meant  to be used to offset their terminal benefits when they retire, stressing that the union leaders and workers are worried and disturbed that  government functionaries are now making persistent efforts to lay their  hands on the contributory pensions funds in the name of funding infrastructure.
Kaigama said that the union will vehemently resist such a retrogressive  move as the funds are not idle funds but are funds invested mainly in safe instruments like money  and bonds market.
He said that contributory pension fund was a no go area and workers are prepared to fight to resist pressures for the government to touch the money for infrastructure development in the country.

Philip Okparaji