Nigeria: A Threat Worse Than Boko Haram - Defusing the Unemployment Time-Bomb

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Data on unemployment are not only unreliable but, being snap-shots representing a particular time frame, they capture neither the dynamic reality, nor its full implications. As a guide to policy, unemployment estimates, as currently provided, are almost useless. They understate the problem.

Right now, as already pointed out in the first part of this write up (Daily Trust 24/5/2016), out of a work force of 78.4 million, about 24.5 million are officially defined as either unemployed or engaged in some menial part-time jobs. Another the 27.5 million are effectively "out of the work force", meaning they chose not to work, or are tired of searching for one. Thus 52 million are either not working, are tired of searching for work, or are engaged in temporary menial jobs for pittance. Women and the youth are obviously the worst hit. Even among those who currently have jobs, many earn less than a decent wage, and define themselves as unemployed because they are "just managing" the jobs they now have, and are therefore terribly frustrated. They spend a significant part of what they earn patronising merchants of miracles, hoping for "deliverance", searching for well-connected patrons to help them secure a better job, hitting some online jackpot, or winning a dancing competition.

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