It goes without saying that one of the impedments to the socio-economic development of the Nigerian nation is the ever-increasing rate of unemployment. Since  attainment of independence in 1960, the optimistic predictions about the ability of the modern industrial sector of the country to absorb the increasing number of urban unemployed and rural underemployed labour force have not been realised. In spite of the minimally noticed unemployment in the country in the early 1960s, one of the national objectives of the first National Development Plan was to develop as rapidly as possible, opportunities in education, health, and other sectors for creation of more jobs. But unfortunately the incidence of  unemployment in the country has grown deeper and become widespread, cutting across all strata and geographical entities. A great number of those unemployed are mostly secondary school leavers and university graduates. As indicated in a publication titled “Productivity and Unemployment in Nigeria”, by Mike I. Obadan and Ayodele F. Odusola, as at 1996, an annual average of about 2.8 million fresh graduates enter the Nigerian labour market, with only about 10 per cent of them getting employment. Certainly, the situation is worse now.

The open urban unemployment only reveals the visible aspects of the unemployment problem in the country. The actual underutilisation of labour takes many other forms including various manifestations of underemployment and hidden unemployment. Thus to get a full understanding of the significance of unemployment problem in the country, we must also take into account, in addition to the open unemployed, those larger numbers of others who may be visibly active, but in economic sense are grossly underutilised. They include the hawkers who work all day in order to sell uneconomic quantilities of foreign and domestic products in our big cities. They include those who are engaged in second choice employment activities primarily because job opportunities are not available at the levels of education which they have attained. And they include farm labourers who are idle after the planting season and the construction company workers who are laid off during the rainy season.

Generally, underemployment rates are higher in the rural areas than the urban centres, and also higher among the females than the males.

Both unemployment and underemployment constitute a serious constraint to the economic progress of any nation. In fact they represent an obvious waste of the nation’s manpower resources.

In Nigeria, it is difficult to ascertain or quantify the waste because, in the absence of reliable statistical data, nobody is certain of the exact number of persons currently out of work. Statistics of the labour force, of persons employed, of employment and underemployment, and of vacant positions are scanty and in many cases non-existent in the local government councils, and the relevant ministries or departments both at the state and federal levels.

Several factors have been linked with the unemployment or underemployment dilemma facing the country. Popular among them are labour migration from rural to urban centres, high population growth rate, influx of foreigners from neighbouring countries, and faulty educational system which does not prepare its products for gainful employment.

But the most critical factor, and most neglected is the limited labour absorptive capacity of the country. As pointed out by the Professor of Economics and International Affairs, W. Arthur Lewis in his book titled Some Aspects of Economic Development: “One major difference between the United States and the underdeveloped countries is the apparently unlimited American capacity to absorb the products of schools”. Thirty eight years ago when only 15 percent of Americans obtained bachelor’s degrees, the people were afraid that they would not all find what to do. But as the number accelerated surprisingly, there was no surplus in the labour market. The American economy was elastic enough to absorb the increased number that the schools turned out.

The problem with Nigeria in terms of employment capacity is that the number of jobs for university and polytechnic graduates in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, arts,  social sciences, engineering, or some other professions are few. Consequently, as the number of graduates increases, the surplus goes into administration and other areas to do the jobs which can be satisfactorily handled by secondary school leavers. In the end, a large proportion of those who have acquired specialised training do not use it.

So as the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, promises the mass of unemployed Nigerians job opportunities in the days ahead, he should first of all initiate policies and programmes that will aid our educational system to produce creative and practical men and women who can adapt to changing job patterns.

But above all, government in collaboration with the private sector should expand the absorptive capacity for the country’s school products – primary and secondary school leavers and university and polytechnic graduates.

This is to say that Nigerian governments at all levels should give greater priority to labour-intensive projects. With the country’s abundant labour force, there is the need for industrial establishments to employ techniques of production that will guarantee a fairly large employment of labour.

Besides, rural development programme should be given priority attention. Such programmes should include agricultural development, expansion of food processing industries and small scale industries, provision of rural access roads, and other basic infrastructural facilities. These strategies can contribute immensely to gainful employment of the rural populace. And indeed, concerted efforts should be made in the area of data collection and information gathering on labour force and the labour market in the country. Absence of such vital information makes it difficult to carry out effective planning in the labour sector.

Vincent Ochonma