Democracy Day: Gauging the Minds of University Students

Democracy Day: Gauging the Minds of University Students
After every presentation as a guest lecturer, I create a WhatsApp group for the university students who are interested in PR practice and journalism. Therefore, recently I asked members of the different groups (BUK Kano, Unilorin Ilorin, ABU Zaria, UDUS Sokoto and Unimaid Maiduguri) to submit short articles on topical issues.

The fears of most of the contributors were on the Education Crisis, Drug Abuse and Youth Unemployment.

While one of the universities has more contributors, others could not make a single contribution, probably because of the tight deadline.
Please read their opinions as submitted:
Yushau A. Shuaib

ASUU Strike and Nigerian Students
By Nurudeen Akewushola

Few weeks ago, the Academic Staff Union of Universities threatened to embark on another industrial action over the federal government’s failure to fulfil their agreement.

The statement threw many Nigerian students into despair based on the fact that the strike would disrupt the academic stability of their various universities.

In fact, Nigerian universities are still suffering academic setback as a result of the last ASUU strike.

Incessant strikes in Nigerian universities as a result of the underfunding of the education sector by the federal government, poses a great challenge to the academic stability and standards of Nigerian universities and thus calls for a serious consideration by university lecturers and government.

The first recorded strike by university workers was in 1988 over lecturers’ demands for fair wages and university autonomy. The government banned on ASUU on August 7 of that year. But the ban was lifted after two years. There were other strikes in 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2009.

By October 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by both parties and this appeared to have brought an end to the recurring strikes. However, in 2013, there was another strike which lasted for three months. But the administration of then President Goodluck Jonathan convinced the lecturers to resume work again and the strike ended in December 2016.

The story remained unchanged despite the election of President Muhammadu Buhari as there were strikes in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

However, the questions agitating the minds of Nigerians are:
Why has the government yet to meet the demands of ASUU?
Why is it that ASUU cannot find another means of agitation apart from strikes?
Why does it seem that both parties do not consider the future of students and their tertiary institutions?

ASUU’s agitation covers the underfunding of the education sector, high level of infrastructural decay, non-payment of arrears, salaries and allowances among others. Successive governments had admitted that these demands are valid.

Though ASUU’s demands are cogent, the instability in the academic calendar is ruining the education system. It is expected that ASUU will adopt a different approach to its agitation. Some fallouts of the strikes have been delays in graduation and matriculation and the obstruction of academic activities.

It is also pertinent for the government to look at a convenient compromise before reaching any agreement with the lecturers to avoid making unreliable pledges.

The revenue base of the institutions can be improved upon by investing in economic ventures and partnering the private sector. Some universities are already doing this.

Scholars working in the universities must also link up with industries and foreign agencies for grants that could help solve some of the problems.”

On a final note, students and parents should not fold their arms even after each strike is called off. They usually forget about ASUU once academic activities resume. They should instead seek to be current and ensure that in one way or the other, their voices are heard in making sure that government abides by its agreements with ASUU.

Nurudeen Akewushola
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
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Challenges of the Education System in Nigeria
By Abdullah Tijani

Studying in Nigeria has not been easy for a student like me; despite the sad song repeatedly sang to our ears, calling us the leaders of tomorrow while the quality of our educational system proves otherwise. Students in Nigerian government-owned institutions do not only suffer under dilapidated infrastructures, they also lack qualitative sophisticated teaching materials. If this is the kind of treatment the future leaders are given, the hope of this nation is then not reasonable.

These treatments — exposure to qualitative education, good infrastructure, sophisticated and modern teaching equipment — are not benefits to be given at the discretion of any government, rather a duty that must be fulfilled.

According to Section 18 of the Nigerian Constitution, it shall be the duty of the government to make education free. Not only has the Nigerian government breached this provision by monetising the institutions, they have also made education expensive. School fees of the federal government universities continue skyrocketing, and students can not differentiate a private owned university and a state owned. What is going wrong? Why is our government short-falling in their duties? Education is meant to be free, but they are turning it to profit making business.

One will think with all the money paid, especially to the state owned institutions, the service to be rendered should be qualitative, but it is disappointing to be primitive. The structure of our infrastructures are not well architectured, our libraries are short of updated books, all in all, learning atmosphere is not conducive.

ASUU Strike is another problem faced by Nigerian students. When students are battling with the problems caused by the federal government, industrial actions of the university lecturers capped the escapades. Unending and occasional strikes of the lecturers have perverted — it caused more harm than good it said to have intended. Our lecturers understand these: lack of enough infrastructure is not good for education, library with outdated books will not update students on learning; but nothing good will come out by making the students a scapegoat.

ASUU strike causes distraction and disruption to the educational sector. A four-year programme in our tertiary institutions subconsciously turns six years; many have abandoned schooling because they lack faith in a system that wastes their time. The consequences of our lecturers industrial actions, even though with all the good intentions, over the years have not yielded positive results; the possibility of not yielding is visibly feasible. If this is so, why not change cause?

The sad fate of Nigerian students caused by the government and the lecturers is a stain on the nation’s future. If the sad song which says we are future of tomorrow tends not to be false, then there is no doubt that the future of our nation is not futuristic.

Abdullah Tijani
Usman Danfodio University Sokoto
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Addressing Drug Addiction Among Youths
By Maryam Maina Wagami

Drugs are substances that are not classified as food and when taken into the body affect the way it functions. Consumption of drugs can be legal or illegal and as we all know, the Ministry of Health is concerned about this. Apart from the Ministry of Health, we also have the NDLEA (National Drug Law Enforcement Agency) whose responsibility is to checkmate and regulate the illicit consumption of drugs in the society. Such substances include cocaine, marijuana, heroin, morphine and hemp.

Drug abuse on the other hand is the use of drugs without the prescription of a medical practitioner. It is also referred to as the wrong use or dosage of normal drugs. Drug addiction is a situation whereby one finds it difficult to quit illegal consumption of drugs knowing fully well that it affects the body system.

Many youths resort to drug abuse/addiction due to frustration, depression, curiosity, emotional instability, peer group pressure while others say they do it for pleasure. The rate at which youths consume illegal drugs is alarming as it is no longer a thing of surprise to see a 16 year old boy indulging in such an unwholesome habit.

Gone were the days when students take their lectures without using hard drugs or stimulants. Students smoke cigarettes or cannabis or consume prohibited substances which they claim makes them concentrate on their books. Such youths depend on drugs as their sources of joy and pain relievers. In some cases, they feel incomplete without taking these drugs and this can be observed in the way they shiver and other queer firm of behaviour. It can even be worse if they are overwhelmed by these illicit substances and become mentally unbalanced.

Drug addiction in general affects the brain. The brain is a sensitive part of the body which is wired to make one want to repeat experiences that make him/her feel good. Such a feeling motivates that person to do it again and again. Over time, when the brain gets used to such drugs, the abuser continues to take more of such to get the same good feeling. Meanwhile, things an abuser used to enjoy like food, games and inter-personal relationships would be pushed to the background. When the usage of such drugs continues for a long period of time, it can cause a change in other brain chemical circuits and in turn hurt the victim’s judgment, ability to learn, decision making and memory.

Youths should cultivate the habit of reading without necessarily taking drugs or stimulants. Those who are already consuming such drugs can stop when the zeal and determination to quit is there. It would be difficult to quit at once. It has to be through a gradual process which requires time but all the same, with determination an abuser can quit completely.

Parents are advised to always keep an eye on their children and also monitor their behaviour. This will enable them to detect any change. There is also the need for thorough investigation on the kind of friends children keep so that they are not exposed to peer group pressure and bad company.
in as much as the government is try its best to curb drug abuse and addiction amongst members of the society through the ministry of Health and NDLEA, other means should also be adopted in order to minimize or even completely halt drug addiction in the society.

In conclusion, youths are advised to engage in skill acquisitions, businesses and concentrate more on their studies which will in turn pave way for success and greater achievement in future rather than resorting to drugs which yields nothing good but causes madness, teenage pregnancy, prostitution leading to transmission of STDs, HIV/AIDS, loss of friends and family, desire to commit crimes like stealing, murder,rape and so on.

By Maryam Maina Wagami
University of Maiduguri
Department of Mass of Communication.
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Government Must Combat Drug Abuse among Youth
By Dzarma Bitrus

Drug abuse has become a status symbol among Nigerian youths. The sad story is that drug abuse among Nigerian youths involves both males and females.

For every obstacle to be dealt with in the community one should examine the causes. By so doing this will give him or her the solutions.

Therefore, the question arises: what are the causes of drug abuse by Nigerian youths?

Some of the causes of drug abuse among youths are trauma or abuse, mental illness, low self-esteem, poverty, relationship problems, loss of a loved one, stress, chronic pain or medical conditions among others. But the main cause among ladies is the loss of a loved one or relationship problems while stress is the main cause of drug abuse among men.

The issue is how can government curb the menace of drug abuse? The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control must be highly commended for reducing the consumption of drugs without a doctor’s prescription. But does this totally eliminate drug abuse among Nigerian youths? The answer is definitely in the negative. Then what is another way to deal with this trend?
The government should start with the top politicians who are suspected to be drug addicts. Also, security agencies should arrest and prosecute persons who employ youths as thugs. There is a tendency for these thugs to abuse drugs before embarking on their destructive missions. In the long run, they are usually abandoned by their sponsors. Government should impose heavy sanctions on anyone sponsoring thuggery.

Sensitization on the effects, dangers and implications of drug abuse should be done by the government using different media such as radio, television, posters, handbills, fliers and social media. I believe these can reach many youths. By so doing it will restrain youths who desire to abuse drugs.
More rehabilitation centres should be established and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency should arrest and reorientate drug addicts.

The government should send psychologists for special training in order for them to be well-equipped ti give proper advice to drug addicts at rehabilitation centres.

The government should provide skills acquisition centres for repentant drug addicts.

If the government can apply this little opinion and add some more other measures in tackling drug abuse among Nigerian youths, it is believed that the menace will reduce.

My call to Nigerian youths is for them not to abuse drugs. It is not the way out of any problem. It is rather a problem in itself.

Dzarma Bitrus
Department of Mass Communication University of Maiduguri
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Still on Worrisome Drug Abuse In Nigeria
By Abdulrahman Yahaya

Enslaved in the world of intoxicants, preoccupied by the frivolity of struggling to get ‘high’; being broke never stops these addicts — their urge to drink syrup is one that can never be suppressed.

They gulp drugs devotedly like it is some substance prescribed by the Almighty God; a day without quaffing the ‘holy water’ is a day to forget in a hurry. What a terrible day it would be! For them, life is really not complete without ingesting the substances that make them ‘high’. This is the sad condition of drug addicts. Pathetic!

An addict in need of hard drugs is one who is ready to steal to get them. This is why the Federal Government should be strict in the battle against drug abuse. Abusing syrups doesn’t only render the youths useless, it also pushes them into committing various vices.

It took a documentary by the BBC on the scourge of drug abuse in Nigeria to make the Federal Government aware of this societal ill that had already become chronic. It immediately announced a ban on an abused cough syrup, Codeine. But how has this helped in curbing the scourge? In all fairness, the ban on Codeine did nothing more than make headlines. Yes!

Codeine syrup is now sold in different bottles. Cough syrups like Benelyn, Emzolyn, Tutolin Pakalin, C and C (cough and cold) etc. are still very much available. These syrups, if consumed heavily, do the same job as codeine. And the culprits that sell them do it confidently because there are obviously little chances of their being caught. The government can do better than just banning Codeine. There should be serious surveillance on these syrups.

The Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA), led by Gen. Buba Marwa (retd) has done more of touring states and airports than proffering drastic measures to curbing the scourge of drug abuse. What happens to sensitising the youths and parents alike on drug abuse? What about looking into the operations of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)? It is alleged that some rogue NDLEA agents abuse drugs.
Under the pretext of doing their jobs, these persons transact with jungle men — hard drug mongers. The Marwa committee should therefore look into the operations of the agency.

Most importantly, an idle mind, is said, is the devil’s workshop. Unemployment is a major factor pushing youths into social vices like drug abuse. The government should provide job opportunities that will be open to all and sundry. Prevention, they say, is better than cure.

Abdulrahman Yahaya
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
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The Growing Concerns on Drug Abuse
By: Habibu Bawa

Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, released a happy Eidl-fitr message. He urged Nigerians to sustain the virtues and teachings of Ramadan beyond celebration and cautioned them against going back to bad ways to avoid losing the essence and lessons Ramadan is meant to inculcate.

This call is however necessary at this time as some youths are eagerly waiting for it to return to their miserable life of self prescription, over dose and self medication without regards to medically or culturally accepted patterns.

The rate of drug abuse among Nigerian youths is alarming and the situation is now more worrisome because years ago, drug abuse has always been among male youths whom are most likely to be heavy labourers or from accidental administrations. It is now common among young people of both genders and even students of Tertiary Institutions of learnings take sedatives to relieve them of stress and stimulants that boost energy to stay awake overnight for night readings without medical prescription.

These however have severe effects to their physical, mental and psychological health.

According to information from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and the National Institute for Drug Abuse, misuse and abuse of sedatives like sleeping pills and antidepressants cause a decrease in motor performance, mild depression and poor recall of details and events for a period of time. This, however, will make the youth lazy and unproductive and affects the intellectual and academic well-being of any student.

Stimulants on the other hand whom are mainly from caffeine cause Euphoria – a feeling of excess happiness and normalcy preventing the addict from noticing any change in his well-being, exaggerated confidence, mental retardation, loss of weight and increase in consumption of food.

As a nation struggling to improve it’s economic status by reducing poverty amongst it’s citizens, Nigeria must ensure proper production, distribution and administration of all drugs as the growth of every society depends on it’s labour force.

Apart from the medical implications, drug addiction is an issue of public concern, drug addicts threaten the public peace, steal and vandalize public properties making life unbearable to young and elderly in the society.

Nigeria as a country has agencies for the control of sales and administration of drugs, a council that regulates production, a body for professionals that prescribe drugs but should we say that is all? Never! There’s the need to ban illiterates from hawking and retailing of drugs to avoid sales of fake and expired drugs, restrict sales of drugs to registered pharmacies and collaborate with the community, religious and non-governmental organizations. Every form of addiction is bad but the worst is drug addiction which in itself causes drug resistance. THE TIME TO CURB THIS MENACE IS NOW!

Habibu Bawa
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
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Tackling Youth Unemployment in Nigeria
By: Abdulrazaq Arafat & Faisal Saminu Magaji

Youth unemployment is the unemployment of young people, defined by the United Nations as 15–24 years old. An unemployed person is defined as someone who does not have a job but is actively seeking work.

Youth unemployment has become a nightmare in Nigeria. In Nigeria young people account for two-thirds of Nigeria’s unemployed and underemployed. According to the 2016 Global Youth Development Index, Nigeria ranked 158th out of 183 countries in the domain of employment and opportunities.

One unique feature of the economic growth problem in Nigeria is its inability to create more jobs. Considering the growing youth population, estimated to reach 135 million by 2020, this is a significant concern. With the high rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria it has and is still a major setback to the country. Youths are found wandering all around the country with no jobs. Universities produce thousands of students every year and thus keep adding to the unemployment rate. This has pushed many youths into social vices.

The situation has also caused a reduction in the national output of goods and services, increased rural-urban migration, high level of poverty, a higher number of dependent people and a worrisome crime rate.

One of them is the rapid growth in population. There has been an increase in the growth of the labour force along with the inadequate supply of jobs. The rapid population growth has been coupled with rural-urban migration. This has increased the population in cities thereby raising the level of joblessness.

Another key problem is poor leadership and high level of corruption in Nigeria. The failure of the government to perform their constitutional duties has resulted in the high level of unemployment. Also, the high level of corruption in Nigeria among politicians has resulted in the mismanagement of the funds and resources supposed to be used for the creation of job opportunities for the people.

To overcome the crisis of unemployment in Nigeria, governments at all levels must be effective in performing their duties. A socio-economic environment should be created. The government needs to foresee looming crises and take all possible actions to prevent them. It is also very important to understand the scope and types of unemployment in Nigeria.

The government should consider each sector of the economy and provide the necessary infrastructure and industrial friendly environment. Agriculture is one of the major sectors and the government has to do everything possible to attract private investors. This will lead to creating new job opportunities.

Abdulrazaq Arafat & Faisal Saminu Magaji
Faculty of Communication, Bayero University Kano

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Tackling youth unemployment in Nigeria
By Anthonia Ojoma Adejoh

Youth unemployment has become a very big issue in Nigeria. It is recurring decimal and no permanent solution has been found by our leaders.
This issue has made many people especially undergraduates, to indulge in unwholesome conduct.

Unemployment has affected our country in many ways. Students no longer crave for first class degrees. Suicide is a major problem arising from unemployment. Another problem is internet fraud or Yahoo Yahoo. Parents expect that their children will be gainfully employed after graduation, but this has often not been the case.

I blame this issue on the nation’s leaders. Some of them are selfish and keep saying they have no solution to the menace. In my opinion, this issue can be resolved/reduced in several ways if only the government can put the following into consideration.

In the public sector, there are men and women who have worked for years and even made money. Such people can retire and allow the youths to take over from where they stopped.

Tertiary institutions have a lot of old lecturers who can step down for the young ones to take over. We have many capable students graduating yearly from various tertiary institutions, even with first class. They should be trained and retained in their fields of study as lecturers.

The government and private sector players should look at the potentials of skill acquisitions and entrepreneurship and engage the youth to be more productive. It is a waste of valuable talent for educated youths to be engaged as menial jobs or porters going by the usual fanfare of donating carts or shoe making tools at empowerment ceremonies.

Graduates should be empowered with relevant tools to their studies. For instance, those who studied food and nutrition can be equipped with ovens and other necessary tools. Same for various field of studies.

Nigeria has many areas where they can engage to practise their professions. Government should adopt methods used by other countries to create jobs. More factories should be established where youths can be gainfully employed. Employable youths should be trained on how to convert natural resources into viable products for export.

Providing an enabling environment will by extension create job opportunities for teeming youths. I have hope in Nigeria again.

Anthonia Ojoma Adejoh
Faculty of Communication
Bayero University Kano
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Nigerian Youth: Weathering the Storm of Unemployment Paradox
By Mohammad Dahiru Lawal

For Nigerian youths, the social contract of job security between them and Government is no longer a guaranteed currency. That we are coming from a past where the youths easily got jobs along with attractive remuneration into a future of diminishing prospects is a sad tale. The unemployment paradox is also an indication of challenges ahead for Nigerian youths.

Today’s youths are constantly struggling with psychological crisis, stuck in a dilemma of what tomorrow holds. This is in an age where their peers around the world are competing on new innovative and developmental fortes.

As far as excellence goes, it is easy to see that the bulk of Nigerian youths have failed on two fronts; it’s generational responsibility to be actively involved in defining the polity and policies that shape the growth and development of progressive nationality and the failure to fulfill their role as a pivotal fulcrum to National economic growth and development. This is not because of lack of capacity but because of a systemic failure to optimise the core of the Nigerian youth for efficiency.

Unemployment in Nigeria therefore is a concentrated cancer anchored on greedy exploitation by the political class and enabled on three levers:

One, the lack of an enabling environment that provides the opportunity for youths to do things in different ways on different scales, to explore and to exploit potential.

Two, unstable and ineffectual policies which frustrate most startups inspired by enterprising youths. Token initiatives such as Sure-P and YouWin have come and gone with past administrations, N-Power is still hanging. More worrisome is that these schemes have no measurable impact on reducing the volume of unemployed youths.

Lastly, the low number of Industries. Oil and Gas is supposed to be a secondary cash cow to Nigeria where iron and steel stands. Today, the multi-million dollar Ajaokuta steel company which can employ over 40,000 direct and indirect workers in full operational capacity is sitting on a large sprawling expanse of Kogi land, wasted!

Truth be told, the civil service can no longer provide many jobs and it is definitely not the future of an economically backward country.

Government and well meaning individuals need to stop paying lip service to unemployment. One model that can quickly arrest this situation is for us to go back to each of the 774 Local Government areas of Nigeria and identify persons in each ward with viable business models that can employ a sizeable number of people within the given area. These business proposals should be creative, innovative and tuned to modern world realty. Government should fund these start-ups with periodic evaluation and watch Nigeria blossom into a new economic reality.
As the storm gathers, if we continue on the old trajectory, it’s either the Nigerian Government finally gets to destroy the Nigerian Youth totally or the Nigerian Youth gets to destroy the Nigerian Government absolutely!

Mohammad Dahiru Lawal
Faculty of Mass-Communication
Bayero University Kano
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Youth Unemployment: Between Yesterday and Today
By Bashir Turawa

“Nigeria was once a great country”, so our fathers say. “During our days as students, employment was guaranteed immediately after graduation,” they would add. But how did we come about the difference between Nigeria of the eighties and of the present? Why are there fewer job opportunities for graduates these days? It is a fact that the level of youth unemployment in Nigeria is alarming.

Nigeria of today has no plan for youths especially in the aspect of employment. When students have put in their best efforts in school, the expectation from the government is to have a headway irrespective of the discipline. Unfortunately, we graduate and find out that there is no employment opportunities.

While the president of a particular country congratulates all graduates in the country, assuring them of suitable employment, ours said it blatantly that our certificates are useless such that they can’t even fetch us a daily meal. Day by day, youths lose interests in education, showing little or no seriousness toward their studies due to the fact that education no longer guarantee success in our country of today. “School na scam” is what they resolve to, there by engaging in different forms of illegality in making money on internet.

What brought about the issue of youth unemployment in Nigeria might be negligence on the part of the government; there is no proper monitoring in distributing the not-suffient employment opportunities.

Diving into the acts of our academics in various higher institutions of learning, we find out that most of our professors and senior lecturers, after being paid their monthly salaries in their various institutions of work, still work as visiting lecturers in other institutions, thereby blocking opportunities that would have been available to young graduates. This same set of people are always the ones that talking about the beauty of the eighties in terms of good and adequate opportunities to students.

In curbing the menace of youth unemployment in Nigeria, it is expected of the government to have records of all graduates at least on a yearly basis. This will in a long way help the government to know the number of people that need jobs.
This will also help the government in drawing out its plans in tackling unemployment.

The menace of double employment and ghost workers should be treated with urgency because it is one of the main reasons why we have a large number of unemployed youths. This can be solved by putting all workers to screening so as to know the actual number of active works in the civil service.

It is expected of the government to ensure that students who may want to be self-employed after graduation are equipped with necessary trainings and finance. This will enlarge employment opportunities because there will be need for such self employed graduates to recruit other graduates in various capacities.

Bashiru Turawa
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto
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Unemployment: May Ours Not Be
By Taoheed A. Adegbite

Complaining less of the scourge of unemployment in Nigeria is just like acting as the silly ostrich – pretending all is well with our nation. Yearly, the scourge keep posing as ailment for well-meaning Nigerians to be worried about. Though, there is no occurrence without causation. Oops! With its past seemingly impotent panacea – one would without doubt, believe the case of Nigeria is different and doomed.

Meanwhile, no matter how complicated it seems – for its effects remains a semblance of a bird perching on a rope – neither the rope nor the fowl has peace of mind. Apart from ordinary citizens paying overdue night tax to the jobless, banditry and other forms of insecurity Nigeria faces today arise from the high rate of unemployment.

Over 500,000 graduates are churned out from Nigerian higher institutions yearly. But due to the harshness of our business environment (exchange rate, tax and unfriendly loan interest) and low technological advancement – rate of job-seekers flare-up yearly. It’s really painful that percentage of unemployed youth in Nigeria is a double the population of some West African countries. With 36.5 percents of unemployed ratio , to Nigeria population as at 2018 according to TradingEconomics – that’s almost in twofold of the total population of Ghana – a 25 million populated West African country – like a stone-throw to Nigeria.

May ours not be like that man who lives on the banks of Niger, but still wash his hands with spittle. Deceptive. With unemployment and its problematic entourage – is ours not like such? Meanwhile, Nigeria is so endowed and resourceful than to be shoved to the mire of unemployment. But who would appease the greedy vulture fueling our cost of governance, that there is no certainty the center can behold things fallen apart in this country?

Nigeria education is a semblance of stealing wheelless cars around. From where to where? It’s not funny permanent lecturers in our universities on payroll of four to five other higher institutions – visiting lecturers. Aside from its contribution to the sub-optimal quality of graduates, it’s also head-aching thinking of a single lecturer working in five universities while thousands of competent Masters and P.hd holders sell yoghurt on our highways. In the midst of this schooling scam, there is also a need to incorporate lack of synergy between supply and demand for graduates in the Nigerian labour market.

This isn’t an indication that government has been folding arms. At least, with past intervention programmes, for instance; Nigeria Directorate of Employment, National Poverty alleviation programmes, SURE-P and the present N-POWER – all these have never been so effective due to lack of national employment policy.

May ours not be. Only if government pay attention to the causative factors mentioned above. It’s also pertinent for the greediness in our education sector to be curbed – freedom for public university lectors as visiting lecturers in many universities should be restricted. For it would not only reduce the percentage of half-baked graduates yearly, but also make way for employment opportunities.

Taoheed A. Adegbite
Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto

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Youth Unemployment Triggers Insecurity
By Jamila Hussain tilde

Unemployment is a term referring to individuals who are employable and seeking a job but are unable to find a job. In Nigeria youth unemployment is an issue of greater concern that many graduates after education could not find job.

Some effects of unemployment include health-related issues that can lead to depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and other mental disorder. It also encourages social vices as many crimes are committed by individuals who are unemployed and living in poverty. When unemployment rate increase, crime rate tends to rise.

The increasing rate drug addictions, armed robbery, kidnapping and other vices could be attributed to lack of jobs for the perpetrators. In a nutshell unemployment is a ticking bomb which must not explode on our face.

The Nigerian government should be held responsible for failing to tackle the challenge of unemployment among Nigerian youths.

I believe the government should create an enabling environment by investing in the productive sectors, diversifying the economy, funding vocational trainings and motivating young entrepreneurs with accessible capitals.

I strongly believe the government can intervene in creating jobs by considering the following:

The government should pay more attention to the agricultural sector by providing incentives and soft loans to farmers since the agriculture is the second largest employer of labour in Nigeria.

The government should also pay more attention to professional education and vocational trainings for skill acquisitions towards job creation.

Infrastructure development is another area that youths can be engaged as workers through effective policy formulation. For instance, contractors for road construction, housing development, railway rehabilitation among others should be encouraged to employ the service of youths, especially unemployed graduates, not only for remuneration but for on the job training to develop their skills.

And lastly the government should know the causes of unemployment and know how to tackle it because it affects us in many ways. Which include increase in population, rapid technological change, lack of education or skills.

Government should join hands to provide jobs for unemployed people, mostly made up of youths if we all wish to sleep with our eyes closed

Jamila Hussain tilde
Faculty of Mass Communication
Bayero University Kano