The document discusses how employment generation and expansion can help address security challenges in Nigeria. It begins by looking at Nigeria's employment landscape since independence and how unemployment has risen. It then explains Joachim Von Braun's employment generation chain which shows how job creation leads to short and long term benefits. The document proposes that for employment programs to be effective in Nigeria they need to provide marketable skills, start-up capital, and encourage labor intensive jobs. It recommends strategies like boosting agriculture, ICT, SMEs, and public works projects to generate employment opportunities.

1. Employment generation and expansion:
A panacea for security challenge in Nigeria.

2. BIOGRAPHY
NAME: UKWUEGBU, ANTHONY CHIJIOKE
D.O.B: SEPTEMBER 13, 1992.
ADDRESS: 7, SALAKO STR., IJAOLA ESTATE,
LEMODE-IJOKO ROAD, AGBADO
STATION, OGUN STATE.
TELEPHONE: +234 818 212 0314
EMAIL: CHIJISTAR@GMAIL.COM
SCHOOL: UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

3. Abstract
Creating employment is vital on many levels. Politically, employment opportunities give the
population a stake in the peace process by providing young men and women with alternatives
to violence. Economically, employment provides income to poor families, revives domestic
demand for goods and services, and stimulates overall growth. Socially, employment
promotes social healing and improves social welfare. This essay focuses on how we can
create and expand employment opportunities in Nigeria in order to solve Nigeria’s security
challenges. This essay starts by giving an overview of the Nigerian employment landscape
since Independence, it then adapts Joachim Von Braun’s Employment generation chain to
schematically explain the economic impact of employment creation, and finally it proffers
solution on how Nigeria can create jobs for its population in order to live in a safer Nigeria.
The Nigerian Employment Landscape
Employment generation is a primary economic development goal of every industrialising
nation. More jobs generally mean more economic activities, more tax revenues for the
government, and less idle time. Job growth permits the expansion and improvement of public
goods and services, leading to an improved quality of life and enhanced prospects for future
employment growth. In addition, a vibrant job market provides an incentive for citizens to
continue their education since the rewards for such are evident in better employment
opportunities. While an expanding job market encourages workers to upgrade their skills in
order to qualify for available higher wage jobs, sustained job growth stimulates
improvements in the education and skills of the labour force, making the nation a more
attractive location for businesses in the future.
The present employment situation in Nigeria has its roots in the country’s economic
development and performance since 1960. At Independence, agriculture was the mainstay of
the Nigerian economy, accounting for 71.7% of her total employment (Nigerian Bureau of
Statistics, 1965). Because of the booming oil industry in the seventies, our dependence on
agriculture was swiftly transformed into oil dependency. Encouraged by the revenue flow
from oil, the government started to invest in large-scale capital intensive and strategic
industries like petrochemicals, refineries, iron, steel and fertilizer processing mills. The oil
boom in the 1970s and early 1980s was short-lived. Our economy began to decline following
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

4. the collapse of oil prices in the 1980s and the failure to promote the agricultural sector and
non-oil exports. After years of economic decline, falling per capita income, and debt crisis in
the mid-1980s, the government adopted the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986
with the standard objectives of stabilising the economy through restoration of fiscal and
monetary discipline, and liberalising of consumer and producer prices. With SAP in
operation, unemployment soared. According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s
unemployment rate in 2011 stands at 23.9% with GDP at $193bn in 2010. This high
unemployment rate exerts a lot of strain on the social fabrics of our society. Successive
governments have come up with different employment generation policies, but none has been
able to stem the upward climb of the unemployment rate.
Employment creation and expansion is an exercise largely carried out by government and
private entrepreneurs to initiate job or work opportunities for members of the community.
Employment generation has been one of the important objectives of development planning in
Nigeria. The argument for employment generation and expansion is closely interlinked with
the correction of social ills. The rate of urbanization in Nigeria — about 5.3% a year — is
one of the fastest in the world. Urban unemployment is estimated at about 10.8%. If
manufacturing and services sectors do not grow sufficiently to absorb the surge of labour, the
rate of urban unemployment could become unmanageable. The implication for society —
poverty, crime, conflict and the maintenance of democracy — are grave. The increased
activities of Boko Haram, Niger Delta militants, kidnappers and tribal conflicts are just a tip
of the iceberg of the dangers posed by rising unemployment.
Nigeria’s Unemployment Rates
Unemployment is the inability of people who are able and willing to work and are within the
working age (18 – 60 years) to find a job. There are different types of unemployment namely:
Structural, Cyclical, Real-Wage, Frictional, Seasonal and Residual unemployment. Structural
and Cyclical unemployment are most prevalent in Nigeria because of the skill mismatch
between the available jobs and the quality of graduates produced by our educational
institutions.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

5. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the aggregate unemployment rate in
2011 was 23.9%. The table below dissects the NBS unemployment data into various
components, comparing 2011 unemployment rate with that of 2009.
Items Urban (%) Rural (%) Composite (%)
Educational Group 2009 2011 2009 2011 2009 2011
Never attended 20.6 19.0 20.0 22.8 20.1 22.4
Primary 15.1 15.5 14.7 22.7 14.8 21.5
Secondary 21.4 13.9 25.3 22.5 23.8 20.1
Post-Secondary 13.9 16.8 26.4 23.8 21.3 20.2
Age Group
15 – 24 49.9 33.5 39.6 38.2 41.6 37.7
25 – 44 16.3 16.3 17.3 24.1 17.0 22.4
Source: Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (March 2012).
A closer observation of this unemployment table would show that unemployment rises
amongst people with minimal educational qualification. These are usually people with limited
economic means and living from hand to mouth. To this set of people education, which can
greatly improve their employment prospects, is a luxury. As the average member of the
society attains more educational qualification, the unemployment rate would tend to decline.
In Nigeria, Unemployment is at its highest among the youths (15 – 24 years old). This age
group is often at the end of the job queue because they lack adequate skills and experience, as
well as efficient social networks. Of all age groups, this age group is the most restive and it
doesn’t take much provocation for them to resort to violence. Worst of all are the teeming
number of graduates who leave school annually with no job to match their skills. After so
many years searching for jobs, they easily get frustrated and are most of the times the
brainchild of most of Nigeria’s insecurity challenges.
With all these statistics, the most important question is how can we create and expand the
employment opportunities in Nigeria and what impact this would have on our economy.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

6. Consequences of Unemployment
Youth unemployment has security implications for virtually every nation, since desperation
and idleness often lead young people to fall prey to criminal gangs, political violence,
militancy, prostitution or internet scam. The Arab spring that swept the world in 2010 has the
disenchanted and frustrated youths at its fore. A research by the Police has shown that of the
armed militants in Nigeria - Boko Haram, Niger Delta militants, and Egbesu Boys, 40% of
the group composition are in the 16-17year-old age group, 10% are in the 18-19 year-old age
group, 20% in the 20-21 year-old age group and a further 20% between the ages of 20-23.
Approximately, 60% of them were unemployed.
In Nigeria, the lack of job prospects and the likelihood of a dissolute future for the youths
have contributed to socially deviant behaviour such as prostitution, armed robbery, suicide
bombings, kidnapping for ransom, political thuggery and so on. Many youths view youth
gangs as substitute families because they tend to satisfy their immediate economic and social
needs through violence. According to the World Bank, foreign investors cite Nigeria’s
insecurity challenges as a deterrent to investing in Nigeria. Accra is preferred as a West-
African Aviation hub to Lagos because of the insecurity in Nigeria. Recently, Royal Dutch
Shell has threatened to move its administrative office out of Nigeria.
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

7. The Employment Generation Chain
The Employment Generation Chain develop by Joachim Von Braun in 2006 schematically
explains the economic wide impact of employment generation and expansion programs. The
essence of employment programmes is to increase the income level in the country while
reducing social ills in the process.
Employment Assets (Infrastructure
Long Term benefits improvement, better land
generation programs
utilisation)
Short Term
benefits
Short Term Income for Technology Utilisation
the Poor (Agriculture, SME)
Increased access to Increased Long Term
Education, Health, Productivity.
Opportunities
Increased security of Lives
Increase in Household
and properties.
Income.
Fig 1.1: Employment Generation chain.
Source: Adapted from Von Braun (2006)
These social ills — insecurity of lives and properties, increased kidnapping, bombings, theft,
political thuggery, etc — not only hamper economic development, but could also lead to
anarchy in a nation. Right from 1987 to present, the Federal Government of Nigeria through
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

8. the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has initiated various employment generation
programs like Operation Feed the Nation (1976), Youth Empowerment Scheme (2002),
National Economic and Empowerment Development Strategy (2004), and many more. But
these employment programmes have failed to achieve their aim. How then can we create jobs
for the average Nigerian? How then can we make these employment programmes work?
These questions can only be answered by developing and implementing a national
employment program that is relevant to our socio-economic milieu.
Prerequisites for successful Employment Programs
For any employment program to be effective in Nigeria, it needs to incorporate the following
elements:
1) The program should aim at providing marketable skills, i.e. skill acquisition.
2) The program should be able to provide start-up capital (either in form of cash or
equipment).
3) The program should encourage ‘public works programmes’, i.e. labour intensive
jobs.
1) Provision of Marketable skills: This involves the training and retraining of youths
and the unemployed in the acquisition of vocational or entrepreneurial skills. A proper
research needs to be carried out to determine the demography of people that will be
more receptive to a particular skill; those who possessing the skill will give them a
comparative advantage, and who would use that skill to create more employment.
These vocational skills acquisition should be all embracing — the youths, rural
dwellers and women; and should be flexible to accommodate societal changes and the
dynamic demands of the labour market. In the past, the various levels of government
especially the federal government focused mostly on technical skills churning out
programs like the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme, Waste-to-Wealth and
Resettlement Scheme. While these programs are good for the secondary school
leavers, they don’t appeal to the bourgeoning class of graduates in Nigeria. While as
undergraduates, these youths need to be sensitised on the culture of entrepreneurship
— its challenges and opportunities, internship and SIWES (Student Industrial Work
Experience Scheme) programs should be promoted among undergraduates. This is
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

9. because it allows youths to gather practical skills while keeping them busy. Through
SIWES and Internship opportunities, youths gain industry knowledge and market
experience. Some of them can use this knowledge to set up their own firms.
2) Provision of start-up capital: The lack of capital is a major constraint on youths in
starting and expanding their business. Capital could either be in the form of cheaper
access to loans, formation of cooperatives, leasing, or grants. Once capital has been
provided to businesses, it is very important that this capital is monitored to ensure its
judicious use in the business and creation of further employment. The YouWin
initiative by the Jonathan administration is a welcoming development, it aims to
provide credit in the range of one million naira to ten million naira in the hands of
1,500 Nigerian businesses.
3) Labour Intensive: All economic activities in the country should be encouraged to use
more of labour than capital. Labour intensive policies create more jobs for the people.
Traffic controlling is a good example of how the government creates employment by
emphasizing on labour intensity. It would be economically cheaper employing traffic
lights, but at a greater cost of growing unemployment and increased public insecurity.
Employment generation Programs and Strategies
1) Agriculturalisation: Agricultural programs like Operation Feed the Nation, Green
Revolution, etc. should be promoted nationwide. The government in collaboration
with the private sectors should reduce the cost of farm implements, increase access to
agricultural loans, provide agricultural extension services, etc. This would encourage
more people to take-up farming and in the process create more jobs in the country.
Also, Corps members should be posted to large agricultural farms and institutions
where for a full year they would be immersed in agricultural activities and after their
NYSC, take off grants like land and capital should be provided to them to encourage
them to take-up farming. If just 5% of 20,000 yearly Corps members become large
scale farmers, Nigeria would not only solve its unemployment issues but become a
net-exporter of agricultural products.
2) Information Computer and Technology (ICT): The Youths are the biggest
proportion of the unemployed in Nigeria, (37.7% of those aged 15-24 are
unemployed) and possess IT skills and thirst for innovation. They should be
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

10. encouraged to seek self-employment in the ICT sector. IT businesses are relatively
easier to kick-start as they require lesser capital. The cost of Internet should be
significantly made cheaper, broadband penetration increased and ICT foundations like
the Jim Ovia’ ICT Foundation should be allowed to thrive. Once these IT skills are
allowed to bud, the youths will become creative and think of ways of making a living
from IT. Google, Facebook and HP all with their Headquarters in Silicon Valley are
typical examples of how the proliferation of IT skills generated employment for
millions of Americans
3) Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): SMEs are regarded as the engine of
economic growth and tools for promoting equitable development. The major
advantage of the sector is its employment potential at low capital cost. The labour
intensity of the SME sector is much higher than those of larger enterprises. The
provision of reliable power supply, improved road networks and access to improved
infrastructural facilities would make SMEs blossom in Nigeria. As SMEs blossom,
the demand for labour increases, thus, leading to the creation and expansion of
employment.
4) Public projects: Public works projects are effective ways of generating employment
quickly while creating infrastructures that will benefit the society. Construction of
massive infrastructural facilities like dams, bridges, roads and hospitals would create
direct and indirect demand for labour and thus create jobs for the citizens in the
country.
5) Manufacturing: Promotion of industrial expansion strategies is part of the strategies
of creating massive employment in Nigeria. As manufacturing industries expand and
increase their output, they would create a huge demand for labour which will in turn
lead to higher employment rates in Nigeria. But these manufacturers would only
expand their outputs when basic infrastructures like roads, power supply and water
that would significantly reduce their cost of doing business is available.
Employment Generation Lessons: Case Study
Indonesia and Nigeria are classic tales of two countries similar in virtually every aspect. Both
countries are multi-ethnic and blessed with abundant human resources. Indonesia has a
population of 248million (2012 CIA World Fact Book). Even with the fourth largest
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

11. population in the world, Indonesia has an unemployment rate of 6.7% (CIA World Fact
Book, 2012) while Nigeria with its 160million population has an unemployment rate of
23.9%. The reason for employment growth in Indonesia is that she did not finance industrial
growth by squeezing agriculture. Rather, she made heavy investment in agriculture, by
improving rural infrastructures, upgrading irrigation system, and augmenting human capital
in rural areas through widespread provision of health and educational services. Also in 1986,
Indonesia succeeded in massive creation of employment by promoting a labour intensive
agricultural revolution. This was later followed by a simultaneous heavy investment in all
sectors of the economy. This strategy paid off as it created a massive demand for labour and
led to a significant drop in sectarian violence. This consistent approach allows Indonesia to
enjoy one of the lowest unemployment rates of any populous nation.
Policy Recommendation
While the three prerequisites are crucial, the employment generation policy has to implement
policies that will minimise bureaucracy, strengthen key institutions (tax and customs
administration), improve transparency of public institutions and strengthen the legislative and
judicial branches of government. More importantly, the government has to make basic
infrastructures like good roads, reliable power supply, and constant pipe borne water, etc.
available in the nation. These infrastructures would attract Nigerians to create more
employment as their cost of doing business would fall.
Conclusion
Employment generation and expansion programs require strategic plan of actions and policies
that cannot be left to chance. In Nigeria today, a major concern of all stakeholders is how we
can generate enough employment sufficient to starve off the security challenges we are faced
with. Any employment creation initiative should have youths and women at its centre,
because this demography is prone to engaging in violent misconduct and other social vices
that undermine the security of lives and properties in Nigeria. While experience has shown us
that government can improve the lives of its citizens, lots of effort is required from the
Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.

12. private sector to collaborate to create more jobs reduce unemployment as this would go a
long way in making Nigeria a safer place.
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Essay written and submitted by Ukwuegbu Anthony Chijioke. Chijistar@gmail.com or +234 818 212 0314
Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos.