Youth Unemployment and Insecurity: Bane of Nigeria’s Developmental Process.

5231 Words21 Pages
Youth unemployment is a global issue; however it is more pronounced in developing countries of the world, with attendant social, economic, political, and psychological consequences, hence, higher youth unemployment in any country should be of worry to policy makers. Global unemployment remained stable at 8% between 2010 and 2011, according to Gallup surveys of 148 countries. Unemployment was highest in the Middle East and North Africa (22%) and sub-Saharan Africa 17% (Marlar, 2012). However, Nigeria’s unemployment rate is higher than the sub-region’s average at 23.9% in 2011 compared with 21.1% in 2010 and 19.7% in 2009 (National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2012) and this figure is projected to hit 25% by the end of 2012 (USA Embassy in Nigeria, 2012, NBS 2011, National Central Bank Bulletin 2011etc). Further, it is estimated that Nigeria has a youth population of 80 million, representing 60% of the total population with a growth rate of 2.6% per year. The national demography suggests a vibrant youth population with an average annual entrant to the labour force estimated at 1.8m between 2006 and 2011 and the fact that majority of these youths has remained unemployed or under-employed within this period, shows that Nigeria is in serious dilemma (Awogbenle and Iwuamadi, 2010). The World Bank estimates that 74 million people between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed, which accounts for 41% of all unemployed persons (UN Habitat, 2008). From 1990-2000 youth unemployment data showed that the largest groups of the unemployed were secondary school graduates. Also, 40% of unemployment rate were among urban youths aged 20 - 24 and 31% of the rate were among those aged 15-19. Two-thirds of the urban unemployed ranged from 15-24 years old. Moreover, the educated unemployed tended to be young males with few dependents (Okafor, 2011). In 2011, the situation became even more

More about Youth Unemployment and Insecurity: Bane of Nigeria’s Developmental Process.

Open Document