Thisday Editorial, Monday April 21, 2025
- The authorities must do more to reduce the prevailing poverty
In its July 2021 report, ‘Of Roads Less Travelled: Assessing the Potential for Migration to Provide Overseas Jobs for Nigeria’s Youth’, the World Bank highlighted the dire implications of an increasing population of unemployed young people in Nigeria. The report particularly raised the alarm over the nation’s expanding working-age population combined with scarce domestic employment opportunities amid dwindling resources.
The bank noted that the socio-economic challenges facing the country in the past decade have led to an astronomical increase in the number of Nigerian citizens seeking asylum and refugee status in other countries. The situation has since worsened with no indication that authorities in Abuja and the 36 states recognise the looming danger, especially at a period millions of Nigerians go to bed hungry with no certainty as to where the next meal would come from.
The whole essence of the report is that a combination of rising unemployment, booming demography, and unfulfilled aspirations have resulted in increasing pressure on young Nigerians to migrate in search of gainful employment overseas. In the process, many are either killed or get frustrated when they reach their destinations without getting jobs. When the report is juxtaposed against the background of the desperation now pushing many of our young people into lives of crime, it is obvious that we have a serious challenge on our hands.
Unfortunately, this crisis of unemployment has led to the creation of bubble jobs as political office holders appoint thousands of special assistants with no job schedules. In its 2024 last quarter report published last September, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) bemoaned the fact that unemployment rate stood at 5.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, representing a third consecutive increase since the second quarter of 2023.
“Consequently, Nigeria’s misery index – the sum of unemployment and inflation rates – rose to 36.9 per cent in 2024Q1 from 30.5 per cent in 2023Q3,” according to the report. “Nigeria has one of the world’s highest misery indexes, with many Nigerians experiencing a cost-of-living crisis and weak purchasing power due to rising inflation.”
The situation is worse for those who live in rural communities. Several reports, including from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) have harped on how insecurity now denies many farmers access to their farms across the country. This has manifested in the rising cost of food.
For instance, the inflation rate in the country rose to 24.23 per cent in March 2025, up from 23.18 per cent the previous month, according to new data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The biggest price hikes came from food and non-alcoholic beverages, followed by restaurants, hotel services, and transport. Month-on-month, food prices went up by 2.18%, a sharp jump from the 1.67% rise recorded in February.
Due to desperation, many Nigerians are now in the employment of Asian-owned companies where they are forced to work under the most hazardous conditions, most often without protective equipment and requisite workplace safety measures. In several cases, the affected workers or their next of kin receive little or no compensation even when accidents that led to their deaths or permanent injuries occurred at their places of work.
Not only are the Nigerian workers in the employ of these companies subjected to inhuman treatment, they are also made to work for long hours and paid ridiculous wages.
Despite the claims by government officials, the much-touted economic reforms have not generated much employment, nor has it addressed the growing gap between the rich and the poor. We enjoin our leaders, at all levels of government, to adopt creative strategies for job creation.