UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION IN NIGERIA WORRIES NUPENG

1. The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) is worried about the worsening state of unemployment in the country. The Union is concerned about the alarming rate of youth unemployment which is the major cause of the growing insecurity and high crime wave in the country. NUPENG states that the army of unemployed in the country is a time-bomb, waiting to explode any moment from now. It stressed that federal government statistics that only five million Nigerians are unemployed is a fallacy, putting the actual figure at over twenty million considering the turn-out of those joining the unemployment market through redundancies, retrenchments and downsizing facing the economy on a daily basis. The current waves of violence in the North, kidnappings in the South are a result of unemployment in the land. The Union is sad that despite this nagging challenge, Nigeria has been declared as Africa’s largest economy with a rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 150 billion dollars, which is utter balderdash, in an economy that cannot provide the necessary amenities for its citizenry. The Union adds that the federal government must partner with the private sector to open up the economy and this can be achieved through re-industrialisation. The recent power sector reform has come to naught, as the nation is suffering from severe darkness and still generator-driven, which is not helping the economy to grow. The Union calls on the federal government to make the power sector work so that the reliance on generators to drive the economy will be drastically reduced, so that small scale or cottage industries can thrive.
2. The Union wants moribund industries to come on stream, which will go a long way to employ our unemployed workers. The Union also wants more refineries to be established and the existing ones should undergo turn-around- maintenance for effective performance. The Union also wants the rural areas to be fully developed in order to reduce the rural-urban drift. We also advise that government should provide free land and tax holidays to potential investors coming into country.

IGWE ACHESE President