'The unemployment rate in Nigeria is a ticking time bomb' - NECA DG

Segun Oshinowo, Director-General, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), has said that if the high rate of unemployment in the country is not checked, it could have dire consequences for the country.

Oshinowo lamented that the increasing rate of unemployment in the country harbors grave danger, adding that it is akin to pointing a gun to the head of the country and the trigger could be pulled any time.

He also said that the governments projections for the economy was yet to align with the reality of country’s situation, faulting the figures released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

“If we are talking about good governance, it is not figures that will showcase such, but quality of life of the people. We should be looking at things such as accessibility to health and additional jobs that had been created. To the best of my knowledge from interacting with Nigerians and observing happenings around, one cannot really say that there has been any significant improvement in this economy,” Oshinowo said according to TheNationOnline.

Oshinowo also argued that the country’s GDP growth rate did not reflect on the everyday life of the average Nigerian.

“Government might say that they have posted 6.5 or 7.0 per cent but when you really look at the facts on the street, how many jobs have we created? To what extent has the quality of life of Nigerians been significantly improved in the last six months? How many businesses have come on stream?” he asked rhetorically.

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He added: “Currently, we have started a survey on the health of our member companies, especially those in the North, and from the discussions we’ve had with them, we’ve been told that sales had gone down by 25 per cent. And if the trend should continue by the end of the year, quite a number of them will have to downsize. So, the outlook is grim, I must say.”

The NBS recently published new unemployment rates for the country’s economy from 2010-2014 based on a new methodology, which suggests that the economy is almost at full employment, with 6.4 percent listed for the last quarter of last year and 7.5 percent for the first quarter of this year.