10 Ways to Reduce Unemployment in Nigeria

10 Ways to Reduce Unemployment in Nigeria. Unemployment is a huge problem all over the world, but it is worse in Nigeria with a very large youth population. The problem is a proof that the economic policies have not been successful.

This article will give you 10 ways to reduce unemployment in Nigeria.

The ideas are not new and they will show how government and the private sector can jointly bring down unemployment. It is my hope that you will be motivated to become a part of the solution.

Let us explore the subject a bit more and gain fresh understanding, about how Nigeria can permanently get rid of this problem.

Read Also: The Effects of Unemployment in Nigeria (Part I)

What is unemployment?

Unemployment is lack of job for citizens, who are qualified and willing to work, but are unable to get work because there are no jobs.

Types of Unemployment

The following are types of unemployment. They are frictional, seasonal, structural, and cyclical.

• Frictional unemployment occurs if there is supply and demand mismatch. It is the waiting time between seeking and finding a job.

• Seasonal unemployment refers to periods firms have few jobs to offer, due to a slow down of the economy or season.

• Structural unemployment takes place when traits and location disqualifies applicants and if there are no qualified applicants to fill vacant posts.

• Cyclical unemployment refers to periods when firms are not hiring, due to recurring economic downturn.

• What are the Causes of Unemployment?

  Here are a few causes of unemployment for your perusal.
  1. Bad leadership
  Visionless leaders in government, who are unable to see and plan for the future of citizens, create unproductive nations that cannot employ its people.
  2. Outdated Academic Curriculum
  Universities produce unemployable graduates due to outdated academic curriculums.
  3. Lack of Plan by University Authorities
  Universities admit more students than they can handle and send poorly trained graduates into the labor market without marketable skills.
  4. Overpopulation
  Migration to cities people believe they can get employment to the disadvantage of other cities, which have vacant positions but nobody to fill them.
  5. Un-attractiveness of Farming
• Society relegates farmers to the background and rates them as failures. This makes people run to the cities, to struggle for nonexistent white-collar jobs in overpopulated cities.
  6. Craze for White-Collar Jobs
  People wishing to get an office job than do any other work; make them to seek for employment that may not exist.
  7. Rural Urban Migration
  Young adults seeking employment and a better life, migrate to places they hope to get it. This causes over population in the cities they migrate to triggering unemployment, lack of accommodation and other social issues.
  8. Industries Performing at Low Installed Capacity
  When there is economic downturn companies produce less, and as customer purchasing power weakens, this leads to temporary embargo on employment.
  9. Foreign Exchange scarcity
  Scarcity of foreign exchange to import raw materials, make industries to operate at low capacity, which leads to sack of some staff.
  10. Economic Slow DownRecession in the economy will cause companies to sack some of their workers.
  We have seen the types and the causes of unemployment. Let us see the ways to reduce it.
  
  
  Here we go …
  
  

  10. Ways to Reduce Unemployment

  
  
  Here are ten ways for reducing unemployment in Nigeria.
  
  
  1. Fiscal Policy of Government
  Economic plan of any government depends on revenue and expenditure.
  Fiscal policy shows how government spends the budget and collects revenues to run the country.
  It collects revenue such as corporate and income tax, sales tax, custom duties and tariffs and spends it on repairs of roads and salary.
  A Fiscal policy is either expansionary or contractionary, but we are focusing on the former.
  Expansionary fiscal policy occurs when government reduces tax and spends more money to make the economy grow.
  Because of this growth in the economy, individuals and firms have more money to spend, which raises output. This increase in production adds to growth and lowers unemployment in the economy.
  2. Central Bank and Nigeria Monetary Policy
  Monetary policy refers to money supply, interest rates, credit in the economy, and rules guiding the financial sector issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on behalf of the government.
  Every year CBN makes rules for easy operation of the financial sector. It manages money supply by:
  • the lending rates going up
  • the lending rates going down
  • lending more
  • lending less
  Lending rate affects individuals who borrow from banks to pay for their personal needs and firms who borrow from banks to grow their businesses.
  Capital is crucial for any business to survive so companies must borrow at sensible interest rates to make profit.
  Monetary policy makes it easy for companies to plan the time to borrow from their banks and do so when interest rates are low.
  Getting a loan enlarges their business, which increases output and profit, and helps these companies create more jobs.
  3. Government Spending
  Due to limited resources and competing needs, it is difficult to get required funds from Government to fix infrastructures that need urgent repairs.
  However, if government spends money to repair roads, purchase hospital equipment, and fix public schools, its effect on the economy is visible.
  For example to repair any road, government must hire contractors who will employ people to work on the project sites.
  The effect, repairing a road, will have on employment is that many laborers will get a job.
  The second is that the job increases hired workers purchasing power.
  The third is that people will patronize any support businesses, set up near any of the projects sites.
  4. Agric Sector Reform
  Agriculture is the second largest employer of labor in Nigeria. The agro allied value chain can become the hub for creating more jobs for Nigerians.
  Let us use a recent case to support this claim. For example, in December 2016, Lagos state government sold Lake Rice to Lagos residents.
  This happened due to a deal between Kebbi and Lagos State for the production of Lake Rice brand, and this alliance created many jobs.
  Imagine that all states in the country copy this example, and produce one agric commodity; this would not only reduce unemployment but feed the country as well.
  5. Government Intervention in Micro Lending
  The government can disburse money to micro finance banks for lending to market women, petty traders, and artisans to stimulate economic growth.
  How it will work is that the bank will ask these people to form corporative societies, to enable members get small loans to expand their businesses.
  The corporative societies will act as a guarantor for members to ensure borrowers repay the loans.
  This plan can help many poor Nigerians become self-reliant and as their business grows; they will create jobs to reduce unemployment.
  6. Getting Professional Education
  Education sets people free from poverty. Educated people, especially professionals are assets to the nation.
  For example, a lawyer could specialize in corporate or marine law. These professionals may work in public service or set up their own practice and employ individuals to work for them.
  Let us encourage professionalism so they can become employers to reduce unemployment in Nigeria.
  7. Finishing School
  Government has failed to fund the education sector, which have led universities to turn out half-baked graduates with little chance to secure employment.
  Thankfully, grooming schools have come to the rescue to retrain and make these graduates valuable and employable.
  8. Changing University Curriculum
  You can change university curriculum to introduce subjects to train undergraduates for skills that are lacking, but essential for the labor market of today.
  The present limited curriculum must change to add subjects such as cybernetics and robotics, computer animation, web courses, data capture, and other technology courses.
  If we implement this change, graduates will become qualified for positions in the current labor market and reduce unemployment in Nigeria.
  9. Training Entrepreneurs
  Government can start a program to train entrepreneurs instead of allowing unemployed graduates to search for jobs that are not there.
  For example, the National Youths Service Corp program (NYSC) could become a one-year entrepreneurial training program for all graduates who will pass out to create jobs.
  In addition, you can set up an internet business by becoming a blogger, website designer, and copywriter, to reduce unemployment in Nigeria.
  10. Setting Up Customer Service Centers
  You can set up customer service business, to serve the global community.
  All that is required is for employees to accept excellence as a personal value and be able to speak English without any accent, to be able to work for firms abroad.
  A customer service center, which can employ large numbers of people, is a doable business that can reduce unemployment.
  In Conclusion:
  Unemployment is a ticking time bomb, which we must not allow to explode on our faces.
  Let us all join hands to provide jobs for unemployed people, mostly made up of youths if we all wish to sleep at night with our eyes closed.
  
  
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