Sincerely, i don’t like being a wailer, i don’t like lamenting or crying over a spilt milk. But there is one thing i can’t joke with and that is history. In fact, i won’t mind “knowing the history of ants”, what some people will call “evolutionary process”.
Many of us are not aware of Nigeria’s evolution of unemployment, the younger and the older generation hardly appreciate the history behind Nigeria’s chronic employment. Maybe, they are of the opinion that unemployment is a natural disaster.
Fundamentally, we have to understand the history, technicalities and causes of Nigeria’s chronic unemployment before wanting to know the best of solutions to it. In the early 20th century (1900-1920), it was mostly agrarian population and that what the colonial masters built upon in commercializing some of our agricultural commodities called cash crops. in the 50s and 60s, Nigeria’s labour economy evolved away from purely agrarian to civil service and industrial employment. Though the population was not as intimidating as it is now, the rate of unemployment was extremely minimal as there were large civil service employment across all regions, state sponsored investments like WNDC(Western Nigeria Development Cooperation) now Odua investments and several manufacturing companies like Michelin, Leventis, Aswani textiles, Odutola group etc. These “combo” of public and private sector ventures was able to cater for the “then unemployed population” in the 50s, 60s and even to the 70s. Mind you, these industries spread across the regions, cities like Kaduna and Jos even competed with Kano in terms of industrial presence. The Eastern region with it’s tiny population also had competing manufacturing companies coupled with the booming oil economy springing from the South-South region.
The industrial settlements in the 60s and 70s spread across all the regions and states, the North Central i.e Kwara and Kogi had thriving Ajaokuta steel/ Otakpe steel companies and Nigeria Sugar Company amidst other state and private owned investments employing the teeming population and those that couldn’t find solace in civil service employment.
 Alas!, my generation (1990-till date) inherited the kind of chronic unemployment unconsciously and innocently. The fundamental three causes of Nigeria’s 21st century unemployment resulted from lack of future plan for next generation of labour force, no boost for industrialization plan due to flowing oil wealth and IMF policy called Structural Adjustment Programme(SAP) foolishly implemented by Babangida’s regime.
 In other words, i choose to label the SAP regime of Babangida (1985-1993) as the most catastrophic and chief cause of unemployment woes that have trapped my “darling generation”.You are asking me why?. The SAP regime implemented by Babangida’s regime poorly and foolishly accepted all neo-liberal ideals inspired by IMF(Washington consensus) leading to unfavorable banking policies, indiscriminate privatizations, limit to subsidies, deregulation of foreign exchange and unintelligent accommodation of globalization policies allowing for better trade advantage for Western powers at the expense of Nigeria’s fragile economy. Zhang Weiwei confirmed SAP to be “western political trend rather than economic advantage”.
Mauritius was the only African country that smartly applied SAP policies while many unwise African leaders applied the policy indiscriminately leading to heightened poverty. Nigeria in the early 90s witnessed the death of many manufacturing companies across many states due to unfavorable banking policies, unwise privatization of state assets without alternative safety nets or productive economy and rise of finance and service based economy employing the few, enriching the few and strangling the production/manufacturing companies that will employ largely and aid local production/export.
Assets owned by state/federal government were either privatized or abandoned (several of such state assets in Delta, Ondo, Ogun, Kaduna, Enugu etc), Manufacturing companies into tyre making, textiles(Aswani), tin/ore, Agro-processing, automobiles (Peugeot Nigeria), Electronics (wire and cable Ibadan) etc were all strangled to death frustrating the hope of Nigeria’s industrialization journey and regional imbalance in which only few states out of 36 states can boast of industrial presence unlike the spread of industries across states in the 60s and 70s. What the hope of my generation that inherited “sophisticated unemployment” is what i don’t know. Am just sure that chronic unemployment entrapping my generation cannot only be tackled and can never be ended by Nigeria’s reluctant private sector or “moja mosa” foreign investors we regularly travel to beg.
By; Mujib Dada-Qadri (Writer, Development and Policy Analyst)Â
Olalekan Ajimoti – Blogger, Content Writer, and Digital Marketer helping brands and retailers build 8-figure e-commerce since 2016.
As a corporate trainer, brand communications expert, and brand consultant, I help people start, stay and grow in business leveraging digital skills and traditional expertise.
