- Expert: Report Shows the Dawdling Response of Current Administration to Economic Matters
By ‘Dotun Akintomide
Amidst the vagaries of an ailing economy, Nigeria added 3.5 million people to the unemployment pool between the second quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2016.
The New Diplomat gathered from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Underemployment/Unemployment report released for the fourth quarter of 2016 on Tuesday that Unemployment rose by 14.2 % in Q4 2016, showing an increase for the third consecutive quarter.
According to the report, Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 10.4% at the end of 2015 and 7.5% when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari took over power.
Also, unemployment rate for Nigerian youths rose to 25.2% and about 61.6% of Nigerian Youth were either unemployed or underemployed.
It was further discovered that 61.1% of Nigerians aged 15-24 were unemployed as at Q4 2016 compared to 59.9% in Q3 2016.
Underemployment rate, which measures the number of Nigerians who are employed in positions lower than their qualifications rose to 21% from 19.7% in the third quarter of 2016.
In actual numbers, the number of unemployed people increased from 11.1 million in Q3 2016 to 11.59 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The number of Nigerians who were unemployed before the Buhari administration were about 8 million Nigerians. Thus we have added about 3.5 million people to the unemployment pool.
Whereas, in spite of the increase in unemployment rate, the economically active population increased by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter from 108.3 million in Q3 2016 to 108.59 million in Q4 2016.
In the fourth quarter of 2016, the labour force population (those within the economically active population that are willing and able to work) increased from 80.67 million in 2015 to 81.15 million.
Data also shows that about 2.9 million graduates in Nigeria are out of jobs and another 5 million who attended either primary or secondary school education.
About 3.4 million uneducated Nigerians are also unemployed with 6.8 million of the unemployed population residing in the rural communities.
Reacting to the report, a development economist, Dr. Bright Soyoye told The New Diplomat that the report has once again brought to the fore effects of the economic recession, saying it was natural for any economy to record an increase in unemployment rate when in recession, but the response to it is key to economic recovery.
“Look at the number of Americans that were out of jobs in 2008 before Barack Obama took over from the Bush’s administration following the unprecedented recession in the US which also paralyzed the economies of many nations. Despite that, the government responded immediately with calculated plans, policies and actions which led to creation of many jobs and opportunities. I believe that’s what we are lacking over here,” he said.
Blaming the increasing unemployment rate on the delayed passage of 2016 budget, Soyoye said the government has continued to dawdle on every economic matters that should have lifted the nation above the shackles of the current meltdown.
“Look at how long it took them to pass the 2016 budget with all sorts of macabre dance at the Parliamentary and executive levels and for how long will the Presidency continue to delay its assent to the already passed 2017 budget. Economy will continue to slid into recession with such attitudes.”
While challenging the current administration, he stated that the statistics show the government will need to redouble its efforts to get the economy going again. “The 2017 budget which is key to the country recovering from recession should be quickly signed for a fast-track implementation.” Soyoye said.
