Despite the Federal Government’s pledge to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over a period of 10 years, youth unemployment is still on the rise. It is also worrisome that a country with abundant material and human resources cannot fully provide enough jobs for its youths. Without doubt, youth unemployment accounts for the high rate of violence and criminality in the country.

According to 2019 new youth policy, all Nigerian citizens aged between 18 and 29 years are considered as youths. However, the African youth charter deems those between 15 and 35 years as youths. Generally, youths constitute the active population of any society. They also determine the level of development in any country. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the youth unemployment rate in the country is put at 27.1 per cent. It estimates that youth population constitutes 60 per cent of the country’s total population, now put at 206 million. Of this figure, urban youth population was put at 35.5 per cent in 2020. With the recession said to be the worst in the country in the last 36 years and the ravaging impact of the second wave of the COCID-19 pandemic, the youth unemployment figure may be higher in 2021. The rising youth unemployment is a time bomb that should be urgently addressed before it explodes with dire consequences.

Therefore, the federal and state governments must  stop paying lip service to unemployment and poverty eradication. This is the right time to start lifting millions of Nigerians, especially the youths, out of poverty as promised by President Muhammadu Buhari. Since Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world, government should come up with pragmatic measures to create more jobs to fully engage the youths.

During the campaigns, President Buhari promised to eradicate corruption, insecurity and unemployment. Now that he has about two and half years to go, he should just fulfill these promises. We say this because unemployment among the youths is one of the major problems inhibiting the peace and security of the country. There is a link between unemployment and rising criminality in the country. Unemployed youths can be willing tools in the hands of insurgents, terrorists, cultists, kidnappers and other criminal elements. With low level of industrialisation in the country, many youths have remained unemployed. Unfortunately, while the population is growing so fast, there is no corresponding growth in job opportunities for the youths.

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Moreover, many Nigerian youths are no more interested in agriculture. The dwindling interest in agriculture and absence of basic infrastructure in the rural areas, contribute to the migration of many youths to the urban areas in search of non-existent jobs.  It is lamentable that the number of unemployed youths continue to increase without considerable means of livelihood.

This is the time to promote vocational education that places less emphasis on white collar job. There is need to encourage vocational education which trains the individual to develop occupational skills and become self-reliant. The government should set up more skill acquisition centres through effective entrepreneurship development, revitalise ailing industries, encourage agriculture, and fight corruption. The youths should be encouraged to embrace agriculture and other productive sectors.

It is not enough for the government to promise creating 10 million jobs in a year. Let strategies be put in place to realise the objective. More efforts should be made to create the enabling environment for job creation by the organised private sector. Small and medium scale enterprises should be established. This calls for further enhancement of the ease of doing business in the country. Government must address the energy sector challenge and ensure adequate supply of electricity for industries to thrive.

There is also the need to diversify the economy and end the reliance on oil revenue. Nigeria’s overdependence in oil as its main source of revenue has led to the neglect of other sectors. All tiers of government must work in concert to create more jobs for millions of unemployed Nigerians, especially the youths.