The precarious state of Nigeria’s economy has further been exposed by 237,000 graduate and postgraduate citizens who, in a bid to eke out a living, took jobs as private security personnel.
A private security officer is responsible for protecting their client from a variety of hazards (usually in the form of criminal acts).
The security guards enforce company rules and can act to protect lives and property, and they often have a contractual obligation to provide these actions.
Latest information from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on 1,110 companies in the private guards/security industry revealed that this industry provided jobs for 828,502 Nigerians as at 2018, out of which 616,000 (74 percent) are males and 212,502 (26 percent) are females.
Out of the alarming 828,502 jobs which the private guards/security industry provided for Nigerians, those with post graduates degrees (PGD, Masters) are 2,004, while 234,996 are graduates with BSc, BA, and HND honours. The remaining 591,451 hold other certificates, such as ND, SSCE and others.
From a low of 578,056 in 2013, there were 601,528 citizens that took the private security jobs in Nigeria as at 2014; it later rose to 722,401 in 2015, advanced to 771,478 in 2016, and in 2017 there were 791,210 of them.
These post graduates in the private guards/security industry earn N65,000 per month; the graduates earn N55,000, while others (ND, SSCE and other related certificates) earn N25,000.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased from 18.8 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2017 to 23.1 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2018. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the economically active or working age population (15-64 years of age) increased from 111.1 million in Q3 2017 to 115.5 million in Q3 2018.
The number of persons in the labour force (that is, people who are able and willing to work) increased from 75.94 million in Q3 2015 to 80.66 million in Q3 2016. The number further increased to 85.1 million in Q3 2017 and 90.5 million in Q3 2018.
“Government does not have the capacity and resources needed to create the kinds of jobs needed to absorb the current 20.9 million unemployed Nigerian youths. Strong collaboration with the private sector and massive private sector investment will facilitate job creation for the teeming youths and provide opportunities for government to generate income,” NECA had said in its January 29 note to members.
Timothy Olawale, director-general, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), said on February 4 the late passing of the budget also frustrates employment generation.
“For some years now, the process leading to the approval and passing of budget in Nigeria has always been a victim of the proverbial fighting of two elephants. A critical component of the budget such as capital expenditure, which to a large extent plays a major role in economic development, suffers,” Olawale said.
“Infrastructural reforms, which are meant to attract investments and improve the lives of the populace, are put on hold and business decisions, which could translate to expansion and employment generation, frustrated,” he added.
His views come barely nine days to the 2019 presidential election when Nigeria’s incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will be seeking re-election for another term of four years in the presidential elections slated for February 16. His main challenger is the opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of the People’s Democratic Party.
Atiku, a former vice president, said Nigeria needs a pro-business and private sector-driven leadership to create jobs for its 21 million unemployed youths, adding that he will create 3 million jobs every year if he is elected as president this month.
“We reiterate the need to prioritise job creation beyond aggregate GDP growth as a measure of economic welfare and overall improvement in the economy. In terms of outlook, we believe a potential implementation of the N30,000 national minimum wage poses further risk to job growth in Nigeria, especially if structural issues are left unfixed,” analysts at Lagos-based United Capital Plc said in their December 20 note.
NBS said the total number of people in employment (that is with jobs) increased from 68.4 million in Q3 2015 to 68.72 million in Q3 2016, to 69.09 million in Q3 2017, and 69.54 million in Q3 2018. The total number of people in full-time employment (at least 40 hours a week) increased from 51.1 million in Q3 2017 to 51.3 million in Q3 2018.
The total number of people in part-time employment (or underemployment) decreased from 13.20 million in Q3 2015 to 11.19 million in Q3 2016, but increased to 18.02 million in Q3 2017 and to 18.21 million in Q3 2018.
The NBS report said the total number of people classified as unemployed, which means they did nothing at all or worked too few hours (under 20 hours a week) to be classified as employed, increased from 17.6 million in Q4 2017 to 20.9 million in Q3 2018.
Of the 20.9 million persons classified as unemployed as at Q3 2018, 11.1 million did some form of work but for too few hours a week (under 20 hours) to be officially classified as employed, while 9.7 million did absolutely nothing, the NBS noted.
Of the 9.7 million unemployed that did absolutely nothing as at Q3 2018, 90.1 percent of them or 8.77 million were reported to be unemployed and doing nothing because they were first-time job seekers and have never worked before.
On the other hand, 9.9 million or 0.9 percent of the 9.7 million that were unemployed and doing nothing at all reported they were unemployed and did nothing at all because they were previously employed but lost their jobs at some point in the past, which is why they were unemployed.
Of the 9.7 million that were unemployed and did nothing at all, 35 percent or 3.4 million have been unemployed and did nothing at all for less than a year, 17.2 percent or 1.6 million for a year, 15.7 percent or 1.5 million had been unemployed and did nothing for two years, and the remaining 32.1 percent or 3.1 million unemployed persons had been unemployed doing nothing for three years and above.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
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