15.7 Million Nigerians Became Unemployed Under Buhari’s Administration—-NBS Report

…Imo State Tops Unemployment Figures

Despite the massive job campaign promises of the All Progressives Congress in 2015, a total of 15.7 million Nigerians became unemployed between May 2015 and June 2020, analysis by THE WHISTLER of the Labour Statistics Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics has revealed.

The 15.7 million Nigerians that became unemployed during the five year period according to experts is worrisome considering the campaign promise made by then General Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 that he would create three million jobs yearly for the nation’s unemployed youths if voted to power.

But analysis of the Labour Statistics Report by this Newspaper showed that the number of Nigerians that are unemployed rose by 258.9 per cent from 6.063 million as of the second quarter of 2015 to 21.765 million as the end of June this year.

Further analysis of the report showed that during the first year of the administration of Buhari, the number of unemployed Nigerians rose by 5.832 million from 6.063 million which it was during the second quarter of 2015 to 11.895 million as of the second quarter of 2016.

The data also revealed that during the second year of the current administration, the number of Nigerians that were unemployed rose from 11.895 million to 13.585 million.

This is an increase of about 1.69 million during the period under review.

In the third year of the administration, the NBS data showed that additional 6.759 million Nigerians became unemployed as the figure rose from 13.585 million to 20.344 million.

Further analysis showed that within the last two years, the rate of Nigerians that became unemployed rose further by 1.421 million from 20.344 million to 21.765 million people.

In terms of unemployment by state, analysis of the report showed that Imo State recorded the highest rate of unemployment with 1.209 million unemployed people. This translates into an unemployment rate of 48.7 per cent.

This was followed by Akwa Ibom with 45.2 per cent and Rivers State with 43.7 per cent.

The States with the lowest rates
were Anambra, Kwara and Sokoto with 13.1 per cent, 13.8 per cent and 13.9 per cent respectively.

In the case of
under-employment, the NBS report stated that Bauchi State recorded the highest rate with 43 per cent, followed by Yobe and Adamawa,
both with 38.4 per cent.

Combining both unemployment and underemployment, the state that recorded the highest rate was Imo
with 75.1 per cent followed by Kaduna with 72.8 per cent.

Kwara and Oyo states, according to the report recorded the lowest of the combined
rates of 34.2 per cent and 34.5 per cent respectively.

Several studies have been conducted to establish the relationship between Poverty and Unemployment.

While most show a direct relationship between both variables under certain conditions, some studies
have not been able to establish this direct relationship.

Not everyone who is unemployed or
underemployed is living in poverty and not every employed person is living outside poverty.

However, a closer look at the unemployment results by state show some correlation to the poverty rates published under the
recent National Living standard survey of the NBS.

When considered by educational status, those whose status is below primary school level reported the
highest rate of unemployment with 46.2 per cent, followed by those with first degree/Higher National Diploma at 40.9 per cent.

Further analysis showed that those with
Vocational/Commercial qualifications reported the lowest rate of unemployment, of 17.9 per cent during the reference period.

Under the age-groupings, the highest rate of unemployment was recorded among the
15-24-year age-group with 40.8 per cent, followed by those aged between 25-34 with 30.7 per cent.

Altogether, the youth
population recorded an underemployment rate of 35.4 per cent.

In the case of underemployment by age
grouping, analysis of the report showed that those between the ages of 55 to 64 years recorded an underemployment rate of 31.6 per cent.

Incidentally, this is the highest among the age groups.

This was followed by those between the ages of 15 to 24 years with 30.5per cent, while those with the lowest
underemployment rate were those between the ages of 25 to 34 years with 26.5 per cent.

Female unemployment was
highest among the genders with 31.6 per cent while male was 22.9 per cent during the reference period.

A similar case
was recorded for underemployment, where 31 per cent was reported for females, while males reported an under-employment rate of 22.6 per cent.

The unemployment rate among rural dwellers was 28 per cent, while urban dwellers
reported a rate of 25.4 per cent.

In the case of underemployment, rural dwellers reported a rate of 31.5 per cent, while
the rate among urban dwellers was 23.2 per cent.