Date Published: 08/07/09
Why Many University Graduates Are Unemployed in Nigeria?
By Engr. Ifeanyi C. Ibeh
This is a one million dollars question. First of all, Nigeria is a nation of insecurity, and unemployed graduates can be defined as humans who attended higher institutions of learning but unable to secure jobs due to circumstances beyond their mutual comprehension. And unemployment is a treatable disease that hinders lots of humans to contribute their efforts to increase productivities. Nigeria is supposed to have lots of job opportunities because of its oil and mineral resources. Why many foreign investors are not willing to invest in Nigeria? Can Nigerian government create more job opportunities and unemployment insurance benefits for the unemployed graduates?
Many foreign companies are certainly interested in establishing in Nigeria, but there are some factors going on in Nigeria that hinder the motives of the investors. For instance, safety and security should be serious government responsibilities in Nigeria as it is in the United States of America and some other developing countries; however, it is believed that the Nigeria government considers safety and security as individual responsibility. Lots of humans are killed in Nigeria yearly because of the security system is messed up. And the corruption rate in Nigeria seems to be so high that some foreign investors are no more willing to invest in Nigeria because they are afraid of losing their money. Therefore, there will be a less number of unemployed graduates if more foreign companies would be established in Nigeria.
It is so funny and strange that lots of graduates in Nigeria are unemployed as a result of their states or countries of origins. The issue of “Where do you come from” is a critical mayhem in Nigeria; it is mostly promoted in Nigeria Labor Market by human resource managers. For example, an unemployed friend of mine who lives in Rivers State of Nigeria had a Second Class Upper Division ( in Mechanical Engineering at Federal University Technological Owerri in Imo State of Nigeria and had a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering at University of Ibadan. In Lagos State, between 1999 and 2005, the unemployed engineer attended more than two interviews for different companies with different hiring managers at different months and years
It seems that the engineer did well in the three interviews of different companies because the each hiring manager later called him on phone after one month of the respective interviews to find out his real state of origin. Whenever the brilliant engineer mentioned his state, the callers hung up the phones; after two weeks’ time of each interview, the brilliant engineer received a Letter of Regret that stated he was not qualified for the positions. This shows that there are lots of inhumane treatments going on in Nigeria Labor Market. In Nigeria, it seems that any state or tribe that has the highest number of the hiring mangers practices job inhumane treatments to the highest order.
In Nigeria, lots of unemployed graduates are surely ignorant that job search is a full time job because they are not willing to search for jobs everyday whereas they are supposed. They only apply for jobs published on print out newspapers in Nigerian newspapers and overlook job opportunities in online advertisements both in Nigeria and abroad; it is well understood that many unemployed university graduates in Nigeria are computer illiterates and bankrupt that enable them not to use the computer for job searches. With all the issues above, it is very difficult for many unemployed graduates secure jobs.
Despite the fact that no knowledge is a waste and being a university graduates is one the hardest tremendous achievements in life. But some times what one studies in the university decreases the unemployment rate through self employment. Some professions, such as Engineering, Law, Medicine, Architecture, Building Technology, Pharmacy, Quantity Survey, Industrial Chemistry and numerous others create more rooms for self employment. Because of the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria, it is a wise decision that about 90% of Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) applicants should apply for professional courses so that they would be independent after graduating from the universities.
Summarily, labor market inhumane treatments because of state or nation of origin, lack of full time job search, studying non professional disciplines, lack of security and safety, and high rate of corruption are the basic factors why lots of university graduates in Nigeria are unemployed. Amongst the factors, the most critical factors that increase the rate of unemployment in Nigeria are labor inhumane treatment, lack of security and safety, and high level of corruption.
In conclusion, every unemployed graduate should be looking for jobs 7 days in a week. The high school graduates or JAMB applicants should seek advice from professional academic advisers before applying for courses in Universities. All the federal ministers in Nigeria need to create internship openings for undergraduate students and graduate students of the institutions of higher learning; the internship programs should be available after every semesters so that they will acquire work skills and experiences while in school as it is in the United States of America so that they would be very creative and own their businesses after graduation. The hiring managers in Nigeria should behave well in order not to deny the successful applicants their job opportunities because inhumane treatments are bad news.
Also, the Federal Minister of Labor, Mr. A. Kayode, needs to look into inhumane treatments in Labor Market in Nigeria, and do substantial justice; he needs to create a financial support program called “Unemployment Insurance Benefits” for only the unemployed graduates that are actively looking for jobs. The Federal Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Achike Udenwa, needs to create more firms and companies in order to reduce the high level of unemployment in Nigeria. The Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ojo Maduekwe, also needs to advertise through international media, such as CNN, BBC, International Conferences, and numerous publications that investments in Nigeria are more selling than before; also he needs to set up an organization called “Special Security” that would take care of all the foreign investors in Nigeria. Believe me or not there would be about 70% decrease of unemployment rate in Nigeria if my recommendations are honored
Engr. Ifeanyi C. Ibeh
Morgan State University
Baltimore, MD 21216
United State of America
zeigerventure@yahoo.com
