Agriculture As Panacea For Unemployment
The stark reality of the unemployment situation blighting the country is usually brought home each time a government agency or corporate organisation advertises vacancies for employment.
Some times, only a dozen positions are advertised but thousands of unemployed graduates scramble for such positions. In most cases such positions might have long been filled by relatives of top officials of such agencies or companies that placed the advertisement in the newspapers. The advertisements are mere formality to fullfil all righteousness.
Some candidates could not believe their eyes when they saw hordes of other candidates at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, recently. They had come from far and near for the aptitude test organised by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA. The 55,000 capacity stadium was so packed full that it looked as if the applicants were football fans that had come to watch a star English Premiership League match between Manchester United and Chelsea.
A similar spectacle was enacted when the Federal Road Safety Commission carried out a recruitment exercise recently.
The unemployment situation has been compounded by the collapse of the manufacturing sector of the nation’s economy. This has thrown thousands of people into the labour market that swells every year with thousands of youths graduating from the universities with only a handful of jobs waiting for them.
Dubious employment agencies have capitalised on the situation to fleece the impoverished graduates of their little allowance by advertising bogus, non-existent jobs and promising to facilitate their employment.
The efforts of the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, to provide jobs for Nigerians is like a drop in the ocean. It has not made much impact because it does not have the resources to absorb millions of Nigerians looking for jobs.
The revival of all sectors of the nation’s economy will go a long way to deal with the cankerworm of unemployment that has led many youths into crime, prostitution, drug trafficking and other anti-social activities that undermine the peace and security of the nation. The revival can only be possible if the ongoing reforms in the power sector achieve the desired result of generating enough electricity to power the dormant manufacturing plants in the industrial estates across the country. Small scale industries should also be rejuvenated to create massive employment opportunities.
Above all, the Federal Government should spare no effort in embarking on an aggressive agricultural revolution, a sector that can easily absorb the teeming unemployed youths in the country. Many countries that do not have fertile land like that of Nigeria depend on agriculture as the mainstay of their economies. Yet, in Nigeria, we depend almost solely on petroleum products to the detriment of harnessing the abundant agricultural potential.
The existing endemic poverty is partly caused by unemployment which could be tamed if the federal and state governments consciously introduce mechanised agriculture. The large number of idle graduates pounding the streets in search of jobs that are not available could all be employed by a viable agricultural sector. Government could create vast agricultural plantations in every part of the country and provide all the necessary infrastructure like potable water, good roads, medical facilities, houses, etc. and most of the unemployed graduates will be glad to work in such farm settlements and earn big money.
If the government is serious about tackling the scourge of unemployment in the country, mechanised agriculture is one of the quickest solutions to it. We must stop paying lip-service to agricultural development.
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