Editor: There is no doubt that unemployment is on the rise. It is also one of the major social problems affecting the growth and development of this country. Many Nigerians cannot meet the basic needs of life because they have no jobs. Graduates are being churned out yearly in various institutions with dim prospect of getting jobs. The few jobs available are not based on merit or competence, rather they are based on favouritism. The inability of getting a job leads to various societal vices such as armed robbery, terrorism, prostitution, kidnapping etc.
There are ways in which government can tackle this monster. One is to make agriculture more attractive by providing and making available modernised tools and also encouraging youths in this direction. Agric-business should be exciting, creative and innovative enough to stir and spur youth interest. This can only be done when government provides the basic necessities like fertilizer, replace all archaic tools with new and modernised equipment. Government should also establish farm settlements and employ youths that will produce different commodities for use as raw materials and also for human consumption.
Furthermore, the youth should be creative and learn different vocational skills. By so doing, they will be job-providers and not job seekers. When youths are job providers, unemployment will reduce, but government should provide soft loans for them to start with because as fresh graduates it would be difficult to raise money to establish their businesses.
In addition, the country is blessed with both natural and human resources and the most prominent one is crude oil, government should resuscitate the four local refineries and create more, so that the youth can get employed.
Grace Saanu,
University of Ibadan.
