Problem-Solution Viewpoint and the Challenge of Job: the Nigeria experience. One of the critical challenges facing Nigeria’s economic development at the moment is the rising unemployment. Reports from a variety of sources and the glaring evidence of joblessness in all the states of the federation, indicate that there is no time in Nigeria’s tartan history that unemployment has been as serious as it is now. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO, 2012), unemployment is among the biggest threats to social stability in many countries including Nigeria. When compared with her counterparts in the continent, Nigeria’s unemployment crisis is more serious. For instance, South Africa is currently standing at about 22 percent, and Ghana is at 14 percent whereas, several reports put Nigeria at 23.9 percent. Worrisome is the fact that 60 percent of the country’s population are youths, translating to about 80 million Nigeria youths. Youth unemployment rate is over 50 percent; that is, 64 million Nigeria youths are unemployed (Manpower Board & NBS, 2013). To think that there are 64 million able body human beings without means of any livelihood is mind boggling for a nation without any social programs. And just recently, at the Passing Out of batch C Corps members, I scribble a rough estimate of about 222,000 graduates NYSC alone churns from its three-batches annual exercise into the labour market. Considering the fact that Nigeria is blessed with a lot of human and natural resources capable of providing jobs for her teeming populace, one then wonder what the problem(s) is/are. Could it be that we got something wrong? Or, are we actually looking for jobs? Can Nigerians really be jobless? Maybe, there is a misconstrue as to what a job is. What then is a job: Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary defines job as work for which you receive regular payment, Encarta Dictionary also sees a job as paid occupation. Frankly speaking, this definition is not only wrong, its dangerous. It is wrong because we can not define a thing by it reward. For instance, if I do a job, it is a different thing if I get paid or not. The fact that I dont get paid does not mean I have not done a job. So, if we define a job as what we do to get paid, weve shifted our attention from the job itself to the payment. And it is dangerous in a country like Nigeria where visibly, there is corruption. So, people can get paid without doing anything. If the emphasis is on the payment, then people begin to run after money and not create value. And if we do not create value, we do not create job. And so, what actually, is a job? I believe, a job is the work we do that serves as our contribution to solving problem(s). In the case of Nigeria, if we say there are no jobs in Nigeria, are we then saying there is no problem in Nigeria? And, I dont thing there are many countries in the world with more problems than Nigeria. Because the number of problems we have should actually encourage hard working, right thinking Nigerian to be engaged. The enormous problems should be a pointer to the fact that there are so much opportunities. In fact, jobs should be equal to/or greater than problems, but thats not the case. My take: A number of things therefore has to happen to problems to convert them to jobs. Entrepreneurship. Nigeria needs to have more entrepreneur taking in their hands to build infrastructure and structures around solving problems, converting (example, electricity) problem into business that people can plunge into and begin to deliver their own quota of the solution, which is job. Entrepreneur must happen to problem in the conversion of problems to job. Capital must happen to problem. Money must be moved in the direction of solution. For instance, the interest rate of doing business in Nigeria is total unsustainable. Bank lending out loans at 25% where there are countries that give out loans at 2% interest. Thus, making businesses in Nigeria to be uncompetitive globally. Labour. Nigeria is ebbing away because we are not training ourselves to solve our problems, we are training ourselves to make money. Thinking that a job is an avenue to make money, not an avenue to get stuffs done. And until we change our approach to education, we will come to a point where we will not have Nigerians to drive our own cutting edge and top echelon industries. Its happening already as Indians, Lebanese and Chinese are occupying such positions. Because Nigerians schools are not turning out Nigerian graduates who can take Nigerian jobs. So, parents, counselors, adviser should begin to guide the students to take up course that will enhance their problem solving capacity. Land. We have about 85 million hectares of arable land in Nigeria and less than 40% of it is used to produce crops and do the real agriculture it should be doing. About 95% of petroleum we export to the world is crude, we dont take time to refined what we are selling, to add more value to it and to engage more Nigerians working in this crude before we send it to the world. We have tin, iron ore, limestone, coal laid fallow and there are not converted to jobs for people to work. So policy makers must begin to look at our resources as solutions to the jobs that we say we dont have. Until we rise and begin to look at our problems as an opportunity to create jobs and to get Nigerians working, we will continue to be where we are for a long time. But, I have hope that the younger generation who now embrace this new concept and its shifting paradigm shall hence, (re)position selves for the true meaning of a job. This is my belief. My name is PeteBONIFACE I delight in speaking to Teens about Career Choice. And they love the book My Career and I P:7ace1cea @peteboniface
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 08:43:48 +0000
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