Unemployment in Nigeria is one of the most critical problems the country is facing. The years of corruption, civil war, military rule, and mismanagement have hindered economic growth of the country. Nigeria is endowed with diverse and infinite resources, both human and material. However, years of negligence and adverse policies have led to the under-utilization of these resources. These resources have not been effectively utilized in order to yield maximum economic benefits. This is one of the primary causes of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria.
As per the report of the World Bank, the GDP at purchasing power parity of Nigeria was $170.7 billion during 2005. Unemployment in Nigeria is a major problem both economically and socially. Unemployment in Nigeria has resulted in more and more people who do not have purchasing power. Less consumption has led to lower production and economic growth has been hampered. Unemployment also has social consequences as it increases the rate of crime. The secondary-school graduates consist of the principal fraction of the unemployed accounting for nearly 35% to 50%. The rate of unemployment within the age group of 20 to 24 years is 40 % and between 15 to 19 years it is 31 %.
Under employed farm labor, also referred as disguised unemployed, makes the rural unemployment figures less accurate than those for urban unemployment. Almost 2/3 of the unemployed rural population is secondary-school graduates.
Economic growth is not the only solution to curb unemployment in Nigeria, as the official statistics illustrate that previously unemployment did not always decline with the economic growth. Other solutions such as the provision of right skills to the people to help them tackle the problems and lead a more prosperous life should also be given importance.
Recently the experts have suggested some techniques, which can play important role in curbing Unemployment in Nigeria. These include –
- Sports schools, evening clubs that teach kids to play football, swim etc
- Computer training schools and clubs that specializes in teaching programming softwares such as Java, Oracle, ASP, Cold fusion, JSP, digital photography, and video editing, etc.
- Language schools teaching foreign languages like French, Spanish, and Chinese.
- Setting up of provisional work agencies, which provides temporary staff to small companies
- People with good web and programming skills can think of starting the following projects in order to deal with the problems of unemployment - program unique JAVA based applications to be used in 3G phones, a project to structure a complete phone directory of all Nigerian phone numbers, online map project of major Nigerian cities, and project, which can provide sufficient information about everything in Nigeria.
Other projects such as building solar powered water pump for use in rural areas, solar powered streetlights, hybrid powered generators using solar and battery power, can also generate employment in the Nigerian economy.