Still searching for a job in Nigeria? It is not yet time to exhale. Nigeria is still sailing on the ocean of unemployment. Unfortunately, there is no hope in sight. As it stands today, the unemployment rate is soaring to 35%, and there is no plan by the decision-makers to change the flow of the tide.
In 2017, I joined a group of young Nigerian Creatives in Sandralia Hotel, Abuja – mainly Lawyers and Doctors. The special guest of the occasion was a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While addressing the young group he encouraged them to create their own job. In his words, he said: There are opportunities out there in the street. You should take advantage of them. If all of you start farming today, by next year, you will have enough to eat.
While the statement sounds like a way out, we should not take Agriculture for granted. We should not see agriculture as an industry that needs just hoe and seedlings. It requires time and learning. Like people study law and medicine for years, Agriculture demands a tedious understanding of crops and animals. Sending Doctors and Lawyers to Agriculture without proper training is catastrophic. Again, the herders – farmers’ conflict in Nigeria has thrown many farmers into debt.
Today in Nigeria, making a living is a survival of the fittest. Some graduates are doing available odd jobs while others indulge in crime to survive. One Social Media troll said:
Nigerians graduate from the University to start P.O.S business.
As funny as it sounds, it is not far from the truth. A friend that graduated from the Economics department at Enugu State University shared a sorry story. The second-best graduating student from their class declined a lecturing job upon their graduation. After 3 years of searching for a job in Nigeria with a near first-class grade, he returned to the school. Unfortunately, the vacancy was no longer there. He is presently selling hair treatment products on social media.
Young Nigerians are leaving the country in droves. And some of them invest their foreign earnings in Nigeria. Young Nigerians also built one of the most popular entertainment industries in the world.
Today, most youths have given up and are not searching for jobs in Nigeria. Majority believe that any available job is reserved for the rich and the political class. Ironically, while the youths do many things to survive, the political class and top government workers compete in looting billions of naira from the treasury of one of the oil richest nations in the world.
