President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the man who has been elected to lead the country for the next four years faces herculean tasks, chief among them is how to engage the army of unemployed youths…
Stories about youth unemployment in Nigeria are chilling. A middle-aged man, Azeez Nurudeen of Ajegunle area of Lagos hanged himself in his one-room apartment on March 5, 2011. It was said that the man killed himself due to hard condition of living. Those who knew the late Nurudeen described him as a gentleman who had been jobless for a long time and that all his efforts to get a well paying job proved abortive.
Similarly, a 22-year-old man, Murtala Ibrahim of Tashar Gagare Quarters, Kano, committed suicide on September 14, 2010 because he had been unemployed. A piece of writing in Hausa language said to have been left by the deceased indicated that the late Ibrahim was fed up living without a job. The note read, “I believe you will be amazed at what I’ve done, but I had to take this step to save myself from the disgraceful situation of joblessness I have found myself. It has made me of no value before the society…Please forgive me. I’ve given out my wears to the tailor. Please, collect and give them to my father.”
Apart from resorting to this way of dealing with joblessness, many others have taken to banditry. At different times, robbers have invaded homes and harmlessly robbed their victims saying they had opted for the dishonourable path because they had no work to do. Political thugs are mostly the unemployed.
Apparently, this problem is not unknown to government. President Goodluck Jonathan who recently likened human energy to atomic energy said: “the energy in humans is just like the atomic energy. You can use it for destructive purposes and you can use it for productive purposes.