by Azeez Adeniyi

The National Bureau of Statistics has said about 3.67 million Nigerians lost their jobs between October 2015 to September 2016.

In a recent report, the NBS said number of unemployed Nigerians rose from 7.51 million in the beginning of the October 2015 to 11.19 million at the end of September 2016.

The report said the labour force population rose from 75.94 million to 80.66 million within the same period, just as unemployed population rose from 55.21 million in the beginning of the fourth quarter to 69.47 million as of the end of September.

The NBS report explained that unemployment rate was highest for persons in the labour force between the ages of 15-24 and 25-34.

The report also stated that unemployment and underemployment were higher for women in the third quarter of 2016.

“Given that the nature of rural jobs is largely menial and unskilled, such as in agriculture, unemployment is more of a concern in urban areas where more skilled labour is required.

“The unemployment rate in the urban areas was 18.3 per cent compared to 11.8 per cent in the rural areas, as the preference is more for formal white-collar jobs, which are located mostly in urban centres,” the report said.

President, Institute of Productivity and Business Innovation Management, Mr. Remi Dairo, while commenting on the report said the harsh economic realities may be responsible for the high rate of job loss.

He said, “The huge number of unemployment is a reflection of the current economic realities as only few businesses are growing and employing while many others are shedding jobs.

“The lack of productive skills in both the private and public sector is one of the major reasons for the country’s underdevelopment and there is need for a comprehensive education policy that would help to address the skill gaps in the country.

“In order to close the existing gaps in skills between the extant programmes of educational institutions and the requirements in the industry, the government needs to restructure the educational system to meet the present and future needs of the country.”