LCCI, NLC tackle FG on 33.3% rise in unemployment
…As Nigeria ranks 19th globally
…Imo records highest rate of unemployment
By Kayode Tokede, Adetunji Tobi, Sola Olajide & Joshua Elekwachi, Abuja
Stakeholders have blamed insecurity, infrastructure, among others to 33.3 per cent in fourth quarter of (Q4) 2020 unemployment rate in the country. The rise according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( LCCI) and the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC) should have been avoided if adequate attention was directed at reducing importation and making adequate investment in infrastructure.
The National Bureau of Statists (NBS) on Monday disclosed that Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased to 33.3per cent in Q4 2020 from 27.1per cent in second quarter of (Q2) 2020.
According to the bureau report, the underemployment rate declined from 28.6per cent in Q2, 2020 to 22.8per cent in Q4 2020.
The report states that number of persons in the economically active or working age population (15 – 64 years of age) during the reference period of the survey, Q4, 2020 was 122,049,400.
The NBS report said, “This is 4.3 per cent higher than the figure recorded in Q2, 2020, which was 116,871,186.
“The number of persons in the labour force (i.e., people within ages 15-64, who are able and willing to work) was estimated to be 69,675,468.
“This was 13.22per cent less than the number of persons in Q2, 2020. Of this number, those within the age bracket of 25-34 were highest, with 20,091,695 or 28.8% of the labour force.
“The total number of people in employment (i.e., people with jobs) during the reference period was 46,488,079. Of this number, 30,572,440 were full-time employed (i.e., worked 40+ hours per week), while 15,915,639 were under-employed (i.e., working between 20-29 hours per week).
“This figure is 20.6per cent less than the people in employment in Q2, 2020.
“The unemployment rate among rural dwellers was 34.5 per cent, up from 28.2 per cent in Q2, 2020, while urban dwellers reported a rate of 31.3 per cent up from 26.4 per cent.
“In the case of underemployment among rural dwellers, it declined to 26.9per cent from 31.5per cent, while the rate among urban dwellers decreased to 16.2 per cent from 23.2 per cent in Q2, 2020.”
According to the report, “for the period under review, Q4, 2020, the unemployment rate among young people (15-34years) was 42.5per cent up from 34.9 per cent, while the rate of underemployment for the same age group declined to 21.0per cent from 28.2per cent in Q2, 2020.
“These rates were the highest when compared to other age groupings.”
However, the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf in a chat with Nigerian NewsDirect said Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, (MSME) is the best position to create jobs Nigeria needs in tackling the problem of unemployment.
He maintained that capital requirements in most MSMEs are very low and according to NBS, there are over 40 million of MSMEs in the country.
He explained further that, “So, just imagine if each of them brings out job, we are talking about 40 million jobs.
“They should create the environment for them to be able to create the jobs. Those ones also will give us more results than all these government programmes like N-power and the rest of them.
“So, supporting MSME, attacking the problems of insecurities, you know a lot of people are employed in agriculture and with all these problems of insecurities, many of them can no longer go to the farm- that is a contributing factor to unemployment.
Problems of infrastructure, cost of transportation, problems of logistics and also finance- I know the government has been doing a lot in the area of finance but the financing card at that level is still very high.
“Another contributing factor to unemployment is high cost of materials due to poor infrastructure.
“Things are getting more expensive, quite a number of businesses can no longer cope due to high cost, also those involved in importation of goods. Many of them cannot afford the foreign exchange.
“Many manufacturing industries are unable to import raw materials as a result of the foreign exchange. We also had recession, one of the implications of recession is loss of jobs because the economy is contracted. All of these contributed to the high increase in the rate of unemployment.”
The Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos state chapter, Comrade Idowu Adelakun, urged the government to cut down on import rate on some of the materials used in the making of most of these local products.
According to him, “Another aspect in which the government needs to look into is the issue of power supply.
“Most of these companies are running on diesel which is impacting on their price of running business.
“Government can also look into ‘ Made in Nigeria’ goods. It’s evident that people no longer patronize local made goods. This also contributed maximally to the staggering unemployment rate. If local made good are patronize it will address the staggering unemployment rate.”
Speaking from a different perspective, a development expert, Kurti Abraham said, “We don’t expect that all Nigerians should be interviewed face-to-face but like we know statistics is a science that draw reliable conclusions about large groups from the observable characteristics of small samples that represent only a small portion of the large group.
“NBS report conducted a total number of 31,145 interviews out of the initial sample of 33,300, giving a response rate of 93.53% at the end of the survey. This is significant enough to draw a useful conclusion in a short time.
The unemployment rate in Q2,2020 was 27.1per cent it increased to 33.3per cent in Q4, 2020, We all know there is bound to be increase in unemployment following the effect of COVID-19 which affected MSMEs and general economic activities.
“The government has actually been tracking the effect of COVID-19 on the economy with CBN intervention programmes like the anchor borrowers and the supplementary budget. These are all good actions, I think the government was over prepared, the present unemployment challenge is a global problem no thanks to COVID-19.
“The recent increase experienced in the economically active age population (15-64 years) estimated at 122,049,400 is a good development if the government use it to the country’s advantage for economic growth. For me it means Nigeria is dominated by a productive population.”
On unemployment and underemployment by State, the report by NBS disclosed that “In the case of unemployment by state, Imo State recorded the highest rate of unemployment with 56.64 per cent.
“This was followed by Adamawa with 54.89per cent and Cross River State with 53.65 per cent. The States with the lowest rates were Osun, Benue and Zamfara States with 11.65 per cent, 11.98 per cent and 12.99 per cent respectively.
“In the case of underemployment, Benue State recorded the highest rate with 43.52 per cent, followed by Zamfara and Jigawa States with 41.73 per cent and 41.29 per cent respectively.
“Combining both unemployment and underemployment, the state that recorded the highest rate was Imo with 82.5 per cent followed by Jigawa with 80 per cent. Ogun and Sokoto states recorded the lowest of the combined rates, 26.2 per cent and 33.7 per cent respectively.”
International unemployment rate, the report explained that “In comparison with other countries across the world, we apply the International Labour Organisation’s standard of 1-hour work per week.
“Using this measure, Nigeria’s recent unemployment rate is 17.5per cent. Comparing this rate internationally, out of 181 countries with rate published within the last 2 years, Nigeria currently ranks as the 19th country with the highest unemployment rate.
“The countries with the highest unemployment rates presently are Bosnia and Herzegovinian (33.7%), Namibia (33.4per cent), and South Africa (32.5 per cent) while those with the lowest rates are Qatar (0.1 per cent), Belarus (0.2 per cent), Niger (0.3 per cent) and Myanmar (0.7 per cent).”
