At the gate of one of the nation’s universities in the country is an inscription boldly written, “To restore the dignity of man.” That is the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) in Enugu State, South East geopolitical zone.
In the thinking of the founders of UNN, and other institutions of higher learning in Nigeria for that matter, the training gotten from the Ivory Towers and the certificate issued after one is “found worthy in character and in learning”, should be a meal ticket for anybody that has passed through such system.
But it appears that the original aim has been buccaneered by bad leadership that has reduced graduates of Nigerian universities to mere beggars and has perpetually tied them to the apron strings of their struggling aged parents.
This accounts for the lingering #EndSARS protests in many parts of the country as myriads of youths who are out of job have found in the protests, an avenue to let out steam.
On March 15, 2019, the social media was awash with news of the ordeal of Michael Alachenu in the hands of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) at Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos.
Alachenu, an undergraduate of Benue State University, who was returning from Makurdi to participate in a family thanksgiving service in Lagos, was arrested by some officers of SARS for routine search.
He was brutalised in their custody on the suspicion of being a ‘yahoo boy’, until his well-connected uncle intervened, while his tormentors went on the prowl again for other innocent victims, who may not have any person to intervene in their case.
Sadly, most of the victims of SARS’ brutality are youths, including those that live large, undergraduates and the many unemployed among them.
Over the years, the anti-robbery squad, which was created late 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and crimes involving firearms, became notorious for extrajudicial killings, extortion, torture, framing, blackmail, among other assaults targeted at the youth.
Regrettably, the sustained onslaught on Nigerian youths by SARS is peaking at a time unemployment rate is soaring; a sad situation that is pushing some youths into crime.
Observers said that the protests were beyond police brutality as they are said to be protesting against too many ills in the society allegedly being perpetrated by government, its officials and agents.
“The protests are not just about #EndSARS or #EndPoliceBrutality, but they are also about #EndUnemployment; #EndPoverty in Nigeria; #EndCorruption; #EndMaladministration; #EndBadGovernment; #EndOppression; #EndInjustice, and #Endkillings. These are the ills that have continued to feature prominently in the system despite promised ‘Change’ and ‘Next Level’.
“The issue of youth unemployment has become so problematic that many families who have spent huge amount of money to send their children to the university are lamenting. At 35, 40 years these youths are still living with their parents and feeding off their parents when they were supposed to be the ones to take care of their parents. The Nigeria story is such a pathetic one,” Andrew Oke, a concerned parent, told our correspondent.
Oke further said: “It is the high level youth unemployment in the country and the general poverty in the land that have provided a fuel for the protest. What do I mean, if half of the youth protesting were gainfully employed, they would not be seen at the venues today. Some other youths that are said to be recruited as thugs by those who are anti-#EndSARS protests, to disperse the protesters, are themselves jobless, and easily lend themselves to people who give them peanut to cause havoc in society. Head or tail, it is about high level youth unemployment and equally the high poverty rate in Nigeria that are fueling the protests.”
Lamenting the country’s unfortunate high poverty rate, Ene Obi, Country director, ActionAid Nigeria, an anti-poverty non-governmental organisation working to combat poverty and promote social justice, noted that report from World Poverty Clock has shown that Nigeria has overtaken India as the poverty capital of the world and the most vulnerable groups include women and children.
According to her, “Nigeria currently has more than 82million of its people dwelling under poverty.”
As at the second quarter of 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics report revealed that the rate of unemployment in the country stood at 27.1 percent, indicating that about 21,764,614 (21.7 million) Nigerians are unemployed.
However, the youths remain the hardest hit with over 13.9 million (out of the 21.7 million total) people aged between 15 and 34 years unemployed.
Moreover, going by the National Bureau of Statistics report, Nigeria’s unemployment rate has more than tripled in the last five years, and some economists predicted that it would only get worse.
The economy experts based their prediction on the fact that as at the third quarter of 2018, unemployment rate was 23.1 percent, representing an increase of 4 percent between then and the second quarter of 2020.
Another sad reality for Demola Oke, a human resources director at a Lagos-based multinational company, is that about half of the university graduates in Nigeria cannot find jobs.
“Universities keep graduating students, but we the employers have few openings. There are no jobs anywhere and the unemployed youths have to find a way to survive, which is often crime-related”, Oke said.
In same vein, WeLearn, an education outreach organisation, estimated that Nigerian tertiary education institutions produce up to 500,000 graduates every year, excluding other Nigerian graduates returning after their studies abroad to compete for jobs in the already saturated labour market.
According to a survey by Jobberman, a leading recruitment agency in West Africa, about 47 percent of the country’s university graduates are unemployed, sadly in Africa’s largest economy.
Considering the above realities and the consequent negative possibilities, Helen Gualo, coordinator of WeLearn, noted that crime rate is expected to increase as unemployment soars because youths with a lot of energy will find a way to exert their energy in positive or negative ways.
“Nowadays, the positive energies are seen less while negative expressions by youths are more because of the lack of opportunities to positively engage the youths”, she explained.
But Monday Akaniro, a lawyer, thinks that the rising rate of unemployment is a massive slap in the face of the Buhari administration, which promised to boost job opportunities for the youth.
“Where are the jobs promised twice during political campaigns? The present administration is promising jobs, but putting in place measures and policies that kill the private sector and small scale businesses. You cannot eat your cake and have it, government should remove the many huddles businesses face in Nigeria in order to boost sustainability, create more jobs and even collect more taxes”, Akaniro said.
In defense of the government, an anonymous source at the Federal Ministry of Labour, noted that governments across the country are making efforts at creating jobs, but that the harsh economic realities, coupled with the dwindling revenue are slowing some employment generation projects down.
The source maintained that unemployment rate is being contained as Nigeria is not among the top 10 countries with the highest unemployment rates.
“The fact that Nigeria is not among the top 10 countries with the highest unemployment rates means we are making efforts at tackling it or else we would have been number one on that list,” he said.
Also toeing the defense line, Bitrus Yohana, a civil servant, observed that crime rate is lower in Nigeria than in some countries with even higher unemployment rate.
“With 30.1 percent unemployment, crime rate in South Africa far outnumbered Nigeria’s rate. It means that some Nigerian youths are pushed to crime as a last resort, and would have a change of mind if something tangible and legal comes their way,” Yohana said.
Meanwhile, Omotayo Ige, a father of four, thinks that the anonymous source spoke well for his masters in order to earn his salary, while querying the number of jobs the present administration has created since its first term in office.
“My children all graduated with good grades, but two of them are running small businesses due to loss of interest in searching for jobs after several unsuccessful hunts. The other two are still searching for jobs and I pray they get jobs because an idle hand is a devil’s workshop,” Ige said.
Ibiwari Damiete, an angry youth, lamented that unemployment is killing youths softly, noting that “You lack everything when you are unemployed; no money, no security and no friends”.
“It is painful to see your fiancée being taken by another man because you do not have a job to raise the needed fund to actualise your marriage dreams. This painful situation can drive some people to crime and government, which did not give scholarship or job will use its SARS to further frustrate the youths,” Damiete lamented.
Though one cannot justify the reason for crime, Damiete noted that unemployment is forcing more youths into crime because it seems the last resort, shortcut and consolation for those who see their classmates from rich homes in big jobs amid injustice in the land.
“It is unfair to see your classmate who struggled to graduate with third class in NNPC, LNG, CBN and other plum jobs all because of their parents’ connections, while with your first class; you cannot get even a factory job. It is sad and the unfairness is what pushes my folks into crime”, Damiete explained further.
Venting his anger on government, Chike Awah, an unemployed youth, noted that there had been no consistent efforts and determination from government to sustain job creation in the last 10 years. According to him, many medicine, law, and engineering graduates are now developing passion for fashion, arts, music among others due to lack of jobs.
“It was unheard of in the 60s and 70s that law graduate or medicine is teaching in a private secondary school because the jobs were there then. But the situation is worse today as many are dumping their hard-earned certificates for menial jobs or crime,” Awah said.
The above, according to Awah, are top among the reasons for the rise of ‘Yahoo boys’ who defraud many people through internet scams and other cyber and financial crimes.
Again, the youths are angry because their folks who are doing well in the arts, music or entertainment industries are often targeted by SARS because of their dressing.
“Government did not provide any job and some of us dumped our certificates to develop passion for the arts and someone, who is intimidated by our success is witch-hunting us because he has gun. Who said every youth who wears dreadlocks, earrings or barbs Galax is ‘Yahoo Boy’. That is very wrong,” Awah said.
