UNEMPLOYMENT IN EDO STATE

Nigeria’s unemployment rate has constantly been on the rise since Q2 2015, with the population of unemployed Nigerians rising from 518,000 to 1.45 million between December 2015 and March 2016, even though the actual population of people willing, able and actively looking for work increased by 1.99 per cent, from 76.9 million in fourth quarter of 2015 to 78.4 million in the first quarter of 2016. This was worsened, as reported by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, by the failure of government to meet its target of creating a minimum of 1.5 million jobs required for the period to keep the unemployment rate constant at 10.4 per cent before the end of December 2015.

 Edo state is blessed with Crude Oil and Arable land but has not fully harnessed this potential even though the Present Government is doing a lot in that respect. This situation has led to a menace of heightened cultism, thuggery and taunting in the state as able-bodied adults still depend on their ageing and struggling parents for survival. It is important that any government that would be voted in at the upcoming elections understand the science of what to do in order to stimulate the state’s economy towards job creation and adopts this as one of its major tasks. It should be the thrust or anchor of their political campaign promises and must be the benchmark upon which their faithfulness is measured. This is so because the ultimate emergence of new jobs or plugging of the high rates of unemployment would be indications of a redounding or healthy economy for the state. The people of Edo must endeavour to look out for someone with a caring attitude, a government official who knows how to receive and solve complaints from business owners, and understands the importance of building enduring partnership with small and medium scale enterprises which are key drivers in every economy.