Job Creation a Panacea for Security Challenges in Nigeria -By John Kokome

The very unfortunate rising cases of insecurity in Nigeria is quite disturbing and calls for a concerted effort by the government of the day. The prevailing insecurity is traceable to high rate of unemployment in the society, which has become a bane to the growth and development of the country. For the ongoing effort to address the rising insecurity in the country to succeed, the private and public sector players should immediately be mobilised to come up with a strategic framework on how to create sustainable jobs for our growing population, majority of whom are youths.

This is one of the ways the incessant cases of insecurity should be tackled headlong without necessarily over-stretching our security operatives. Government on her part must be sincere and willing to put in place measures and policies that will encourage both local and foreign investors into the country for the purpose of economic diversification and in the end, create massive job opportunities for the populace. That is not to say, there will not be security challenges in the country, but rather it will help to reduce crime rate drastically, amongst the unemployed growing population.

However, government should also intensify efforts at encouraging SMEs and MSMEs to do more. Although, there are ongoing efforts in that direction but a lot more still needs to be done towards boosting the economy. An idle mind they say is the devil’s workshop, most of the youths who have been recruited into various criminal groups could be said to have succumbed to the pressure due to economic hardship posed on them, as a result of their inability to secure legitimate means of livelihood. When jobs are created and there are still have some remnants of criminality in the country, then it becomes easier to explore other security measures to tackle the menace in the society.

It is also important to re-emphasis that government do not really have business being in business, all that is required from government is to put in place the right policy framework for businesses to thrive in the country. Moreover, when businesses thrive more jobs will be created.

According PwC report, Q4 2020 witnessed an estimated 30% rise in unemployment figures in the country, which is about 23.9million people out of a labour force of 81million. Sadly, the current unemployment rate stands at 33.3% according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS); this is quite scaring and must be approached with all the urgency it requires.

Policies of the government such as the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), N-power, and National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX) all aimed at tackling unemployment is a welcome development, but yet they are still inadequately not enough to address the unemployment quagmire we are faced as a nation. So more policies are required in that direction, to confront this monster staring us in the face before it gets out of hand.

However, one critical area the government needs to urgently effect some changes is the educational curriculum in the country; this should be re-designed to meet the demands of the 21st century. It is very sad to know that, many of those struggling to get a job are graduates who should ordinarily be creating jobs for others. In the new curriculum, irrelevant and outdated subjects should be expunged and replaced immediately with the ones that are in line with modern reality to include; creativity, communications, information literacy, digital literacy, critical thinking, leadership etc. A lot of emphasis should be laid on practicality rather than theoretical method of learning that the present curriculum is based on.

With this kind of measure put in place, I believe within a few years of vigorously implementing the policy the country will be on its way to the greatness again. Nigeria is a country blessed with enormous human and natural resources, as such should not have business with poverty or unemployment.

Unfortunately, we have not taken a critical look at these resources at our disposal with the hope of harnessing them for our economic benefits. I made bold to say, massive job creation will reduce crime rate to the barest minimum in the country, paving the way for sustainable economic growth and development we all crave for as a nation.
The insecurity situation in the country is only a phase that we will overcome in no distant time, but while we go through this phase all hands must be on deck to ensure it does not consume us as a nation.

John Kokome
A Communications Strategist & Public Affairs Analyst
writes from Lagos
kokomejohn@yahoo.com