Unemployment rate, according to the NBS, rose from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter to 33.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020. That is some 23,187,389 persons with either nothing to do, or working for less than 20 hours a week. That however is not the only revelation. According to the NBS, 1,422,772 persons were actually added to the labour market between the second quarter, right up to the time the economy slipped into recession.
Nothing of the development can be said to be entirely surprising. Across the federation, the signs are not only telling, the climate of anomie fostered by the swelling army of idle youths has not only become too painful to ignore, it is, like cancer, ravaging the soul of the nation. And so the economy, which ordinarily ought to be expanding to absorb the large army of productive youths, continues to shrink.
Asides, our agricultural practices, particularly peasant farming, needs to be upgraded to attract more of our youths. We suggest that states in particular reinvigorate their extension services to make access to farm machineries easy and relatively cheap to those willing to do farm business. We need to bring back a well-structured vocational training, particularly as a huge chunk of the idle hands has no skills to sell.