CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Historical Background of the study
Unemployment as a concept has attracted large coverage both domestically and internationally. It has been the most persistent and unmanageable problem facing both developed and developing nations of the world. The fact remains that a hundred percent employment exist in no nation of the world. All nations experience at least a minute proportion if not large rate of unemployment and a major macro-economic goal of most if not all nations is to combat unemployment problems in their economies.
Unemployment has been categorized as one of the serious impediments to social welfare. Apart from representing a colossal waste of a country’s manpower resources, it generates welfare loss in terms of lower output, thereby lending to lower income and well-being. The need to avert the negative effects of unemployment has made the tackling of unemployment problem to feature very prominently in the development objectives of many developing countries. One of the steps taken by the Nigeria government to reduce the problem of unemployment in Nigeria was the establishment of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in 26th march, 1986.
Unemployment has been defined as the absence of a job by an able bodied person. It is a term often denoting the percentage of people in the labour force who are not working.
The concept of unemployment is not an entirely new one in Nigeria. Patrick Koshoni, (2005), a former minister of labour has this to say “the problem of mass unemployment is not new; it has been with us with various degree for the past decades”. Increasing population explosion of the few years raised the situation to a critical dimension which cannot be ignored without disastrous consequences.
The number of unemployed persons keeps increasing with each passing day. Thousand of Nigeria graduates who have completed the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program still remained unemployed. There are also those who did not enjoy tertiary education but have some basic qualifications and skills that are equally unemployed. This situation demand immediate action by government at all level. This is because unemployment affects human development and also breeds poverty, which may lead to low levels of consumption and income. The unrelenting social upheavals in form of increasing crime rate and insecurity in the country and in Maiduguri in particular are the unfortunate consequences of high unemployment rate. The essence of this study is to find out the causes, prevalence and consequences of unemployment in Maiduguri metropolitan council and the possibility of findings solution to it.
1.2 Statement of the Research Problem
The unemployment situation in Nigeria has become critical and labour absorption problematic. The problem has increasingly come to be recognized as one of the serious socio-economic problem currently confronting Nigeria economy. However, statistics showed that Nigeria compared to other countries of Africa has the largest segment of youth unemployment. In absolute terms, it is estimated that there are presently about 22 million youths unemployed in Nigeria (Bakare,2012).
In various research on the issue of unemployment in Nigeria it was discovered that much of the “open” unemployment observed in Nigeria is due to structural factors such as the nature of educational system and its interface with the labour market (i.e., the mismatch problem), technological change, permanent shifts in the demand for goods and services and the skill content of the labour force. Cyclical factors such as the fluctuations in aggregate local and foreign demand for goods and services and institutional factors such as the presence of strong labour unions and labour legislation also determine the underlaying high rate of unemployment rate.
In addition to open unemployment, there is evidence of high level of “disguised” unemployment’ in the form of discouraged workers who are not in employment and not actively looking for work, even though they would like to work. The high rates of ‘open’ and ‘disguised’ unemployment in Nigeria represent a serious waste of human resources, the explanation for poverty traps, high level of income inequality and slow growth of gross domestic output and therefore becomes a problem which requires thorough examination.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
Unemployment being a social problem needs to be curbed by the apparatus of the state. On this note, the National Directorate of Employment was established as the main statutory body for dealing with unemployment in the nation.
It is therefore the objective of this study to:
- Examine the causes of unemployment in Nigeria.
- Identify the rate of unemployment in Maiduguri.
- Assess the effects of unemployment in Maiduguri.
- Discuss the linkage between unemployment and anti social behaviours associated with Nigeria graduates.
1.4 Research Questions
- What are the causes of unemployment in Maiduguri metropolitan council?
- What is the rate of unemployment in Maiduguri metropolitan council?
- What are the effects of unemployment in Maiduguri metropolitan council?
- What is the linkage between unemployment and anti-social behavior associated with graduates in Maiduguri metropolitan council?
1.5. Significance of the Study
The significance of this study will be its capability to reveal the causes and effects of the phenomena under study and proffering possible solution to tackling them.
Since the consequences of unemployment are always unfriendly within any human society experiencing it, there is a need to study it so that adequate awareness will be created concerning it.
The result of this study will provide information which will help in no small measure to educate the public about the danger connected with unemployment, not only to the person facing it but to other and the entire society.
It is an attempt to bring to light the problem faced by youths especially after graduation from secondary and tertiary institutions.
To open more avenue for researchers who may or venture into undertaking more intensive research on the issue of unemployment in order to have more knowledge about it.
The result of the study/research will be of a great important to the government with regards to implementation of policies and programs that can help reduce menace of unemployment to a manageable level, if not totally eradicating it.
1.6 Operational Definition of Key Terms/Concepts
This section will dwell on the conceptualization and operationalization of some of the key terms to be used in this work so much so that they will suit this study and ambiguity cleared.
Alienation
It simply connotes cutting a man off both from work and the product of his work.
Gross Domestic Product
It measures the values of economic activity within a country. It is also defined as the sum of market values or price of all final goods and services produced in an economy during a period of time, usually a year.
Health Hazard
Perceived or actual danger to a state of complete, physical, mental or social well being of an individual…. (WHO).
Labour Force
This is defined as being made up of all persons between the age of 15 and 70, excluding students, home keepers and people who cannot or are not interested in working.
Misdemeanor
Offences or anti social behavior which is les in gravity than other criminal acts. This type of behavior is mainly been associated with youth and young adults.
Policy Makers
Individuals who are involved in the designing government programs to remedy social problem in the society.
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