Nigeria’s Unemployment Rate May Reach 33.5% By 2020 – FG

Nigeria unemployment rate may reach 33.5 per cent by 2020, says the Federal Government.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, said this while declaring open a two-day workshop on “Breaking the Resilience of High Unemployment Rate in the Country”, in Abuja, yesterday.
He said that the incessant increase of unemployment in the country was alarming.
According to him, the high unemployment rate of 23.1 per cent, and underemployment of 16.6 per cent by the National Bureau Statistics (NBS) of 2019 report was alarming.
“It is a worrisome status as the global poverty capital (World Bank, 2018); and concomitant high prevalence rate of crimes and criminality, including mass murders, insurgency, militancy, armed robbery, kidnappings and drug abuse, among others.
“As if this situation is not scary enough, it is projected that the unemployment rate for this country will reach 33.5 per cent by 2020, with consequences that are better imagined, if the trend is not urgently reversed.
“It is a thing of joy to note that Nigeria has not been resting on her oars over the years in terms of dedicated efforts to curb the unemployment problem,” he said.
Ngige said that various government social intervention programmes targeted at reducing youth unemployment and eradicating poverty have been implemented by different administrations since Nigeria gained independence.
The minister also said that available records showed that from 1972 to date, about 14 different programmes have been implemented.