Buhari’s Re-election Threatened As NBS Says 20.9 Nigerians Now Unemployed

A damning Labour force statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday may threaten President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid if Nigerians base their choice of President in the 2019 election on the performance of the economy.

The NBS released the report just as President Buhari addresses a joint session of the National Assembly to present the 2019 Appropriation Bill.

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The newly released NBS report indicates that,”The economically active or working-age population (15 – 64 years of age) increased from 111.1 million in Q3, 2017 to 115.5 million in Q3, 2018,” while unemployment unemployment rose from 18.1% in 2017 to 23.1% by the end of September 2018.

It said number of Nigerians classified as unemployed increased from 17.6 million in Q4 2017 to 20.9 million in Q3 2018.

The NBS report also shows that those affected in the statistics fall within the economically active or working-age population of 15 – 64 years of age.

In the Labour Force Statistics, the NBS also noted that “The number of persons in the labour force (i.e. people who are able and willing to work increased from 75.94 million in Q3 2015 to 80.66 million in Q3 2016 to 85.1 million in Q3, 2017 to 90.5 million in Q3, 2018.”

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The Statistics office stated that, “The total number of people in employment (i.e with jobs) increased from 68.4 million in Q3 2015 to 68.72 million in Q3 2016, to 69.09 million in Q3 2017 and 69.54 million in Q3 2018.

“The total number of people in full-time employment (at least 40 hours a week) increased from 51.1 million in Q3 2017 to 51.3 million in Q3, 2018.

“The total number of people in part-time employment (or underemployment) decreased from 13.20 million in Q3 2015 to 11.19 million in Q3 2016 but increased to 18.02 million in Q3 2017 and to 18.21 million in Q3 2018.

“The total number of people classified as unemployed, which means they did nothing at all or worked few hours (under 20 hours a week) to be classified as employed increased from 17.6 million in Q4 2017 to 20.9 million in Q3 2018.

“Of the 20.9 million persons classified as unemployed as at Q3 2018, 11.1 million did some form of work but for too few hours a week (under 20 hours) to be officially classified as employed while 9.7 million did absolutely nothing.

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“Of the 9.7 million unemployed that did absolutely nothing as at Q3 2018, 90.1% of them or 8.77 million were reported to be unemployed and doing nothing because they were first-time job seekers and have never worked before. On the other hand, 9.9 million or 0.9% of the 9.7 million that were unemployed and doing nothing at all reported they were unemployed and did nothing at all because they were previously employed but lost their jobs at some point in the past which is why they were unemployed.

“Of the 9.7 million that were unemployed and did nothing at all, 35.0% or 3.4 million have been unemployed and did nothing at all for less than a year, 17.2% or 1.6 million for a year, 15.7% or 1.5 million had been unemployed and did nothing for 2 years, and the remaining 32.1% or 3.1 million unemployed persons had been unemployed doing nothing for 3 and above years,” said the NBS.

Meanwhile during his 2019 budget presentation on Wednesday, President Buhari identified the nation’s recovery from recession and the fight against corruption, amongst others, as some of the key areas where his administration has done well.

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