The solution to unemployment in Nigeria is EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION.

I disagree. This is solution to unemployment for individuals but not NIGERIA.

davidif:

@femo
Free education at the primary and secondary level is a basic human right. That is a long term solution to armed robbery. There are a lot of people who can't afford free education in naija, you probably don't see them, because to you they don't exist, but just go to the slums of any city in naija and you would know what i'm talking about. It would cost soooooo much to connect every state with a railway. There should also be access to credit (capital) and by the way how high is Nigeria's interest rate? If its higher than 4%, that should be a be a travesty. Oh what pathetic leaders we have. It seems to me that Nigeria is just worried about appreciating the naira compared to the $ instead of using our low value currency to our advantage (see Japan). When Nigeria starts exploring high-tech products to the rest of the world like electronics, our devalued naira would make us competitive compared to the $, but first of all, we have to produce something that the rest of the world wants. Oil is simply not going to cut it.
Vocational and "blue collar" jobs don't make countries rich, economic power houses, its high-tech industries that do. Like i said the govt should lead a state led industrialization drive, starting with simple, basic technology from the East (Aba boys and their electronics).
@Kobojunkie
you said that Education is not going to solve nigeria's problems, just go see what all the developed countries in the world have in common then come and tell me if education is not worth it. Where do you think our future "Einsteins" are going to come from? Our future Donald Trumps, Bill Gates, nano-technologists, and MIT graduates are selling groundnut, robbing people, working on farms, or even extorting money (area boys), when are we going to teach this kids and harness there potential?

davidif:

@kobojunkie
oya then, i have already stated my points. You state your own very clear points on how nigeria can move forward instead of your generic points like "We need to start implementing solutions we can afford to maintain and make sure that we do not open the door to more problems".

At least give me 10 clear points for Nigeria to move forward. I said a state led industrialization drive only possible by education would do the job but you disagree otherwise.
If Nigerian graduates are unemployed isn't that telling you something that our educational system is not practical but theoretical, that our colleges are not making our students enterpreneurs, that you have students who can't even create a micro-electronic device and they call themselves "electrical engineers", that you have students who can't write a JAVA or C++ program talkless of developing there own software and they call themselves computer scientists. As far as i am concerned, if you have a college degree and you're not capable of starting your own business or branching out on your own, then your education is useless. Our college professors spend time giving our kids too much info. (textbooks) to cram but the students can't apply it to the real world, there is no research done in the universities whatsoever, the profs are busy passing handouts and sleeping with students. Let me put this pomp and plainly, if you're an architect and you can't start your own business after college then your degree is worthless, my roommates here use big time software programs for architecture design meanwhile those in UNILAG are still using T-square and compass, the same goes for civil engineering. This shows that we urgently need to overhaul our university educational system. College kids here are given projects to come up with something new or to design something in there senior class, i don't know whether they do that at Ohio State but they probably do at Michigan .
I believe the govt should create industries like i said earlier: heavy industries and light industries. The heavy industries would require LOTS of skilled personnel (hence the free education), we would need a lot engineers and other scientists than we have now, thereby reducing unemployment. In naija we have a ministry of industry but all they do is embezzle money.
Also, most important of all should be the access to credit or loans for anybody who wants to start a business, in other words, if i want to start a business today, all i would need to do is go to the bank and get loans and tomorrow i am open, instead of going to all the ministries and bribing everybody to the top.
Also, like i said earlier, the govt needs to slash interest rate to at least 4%, we need to capitalize on the low value of our currency like Japan did making there exports desirable to the rest of the world, instead of hiking interest rates so that the naira would appreciate towards the dollar (which is absurd). Now the problem is finding something to produce that the rest of the world wants like hi-tech products, agriculture is just not going to cut it in the mordern day economy.

Kobojunkie:


I will say it again. Education is not going to solve anything in that country and I will even add that I agree with folahann when he says FREE this and that is not the solution in Nigeria. Last thing we need is to extend the wait on AWOOF! from government. Infact, I believe that waiting for government to give us this and that is the reason why we are were we are today.

To my point on why I believe Education is not the solution in that country, I point to the fact that in the south, we have plenty of unemployed graduates who are today armed robbers. We have more and ore of the active criminals also holders of Bachelors and advanced degrees. Most of the corrupt leaders we have in that country are well educated. Educating more people will not make the problem go away. Looking at the advanced world as you say I should. I see that most of the businesses, infact, billions in american dollars are handled by companies[i] started by people who barely finished high school [/i] at the time they started their businesses. Infact, most of them had to wait till later on to finish up and then gvet an advanced degree. The average Nigerian needs opportunities more than he/she needs education at this point. Education can come down the line but open the door and make them to see it is time to change or be left behind and we will slowly reverse the situation in that country.

We need to start implementing solutions we can afford to maintain and make sure that we do not open the door to more problems. In the case of the farmers, sure the government can help but I am sure providing good roads, good water, access to good seeds and electricity would go along way in alleviating the current problems of these farmers than providing them the other things on your list would. Many of them are not looking to compete with the rest of the world at this time, infact many are just farming cause it is last resort for them but when these basic amenities become available, I am sure these farmers will know then if they want to grow bigger or remain small and then and only then do I believe subsidies will help push the farming industry into the global frontier.

EmekaNaija:

The solution to unemployment in Nigeria is ELECTRICITY. Give Nigerians electricity and most dead industries would come back to life employing the jobless. When people see they have a realistic chance of getting employed after school, then they would be encouraged to go to school. Electricity would also motivate most people to be self employed e.g Artisans, technology innovation etc.

If all oil money in one single year can be channeled to fixing our electricity then i'm coming back to Naija with the next available flight.

Deep Soul:

@Kobojunkie

And people do not need to get educated to know how to fix electricity?

Are there people who are born with knowledge on how the power sector works?

Or were you?

Learn to look at the big picture.

Education it is. Unarguably

EmekaNaija:

The solution to unemployment in Nigeria is ELECTRICITY. Give Nigerians electricity and most dead industries would come back to life employing the jobless. When people see they have a realistic chance of getting employed after school, then they would be encouraged to go to school. Electricity would also motivate most people to be self employed e.g Artisans, technology innovation etc.

If all oil money in one single year can be channeled to fixing our electricity then i'm coming back to Naija with the next available flight.

I-man:

There are innumerable countries in the world with steady electricity but high unemployment.South Africa has fairly steady electricity but even the Govt's own figures,said to underestimate the problem,shows that the unemployment rate is 25%.

Even in Europe,countries like Belgium and Poland have high unemployment.The Eastern part of Germany has high unemployment . . . . . .you think they don't have electricity?

The solution to unemployment is quicker economic growth.To the extent that infrastructure like electricity fosters economic growth,it is helpful,but singling out electricity as the elixir to our problem is ridiculous.

Kobojunkie:

Nigeria can not be compared with South Africa when it comes to Economic potential. There are 1000's of companies that have been waiting for years to get into the Nigerian market. Same can not be said for the south african market.

I-man:

What? There are equally thousands of foreign companies interested in South Africa. Beyond our larger population,what makes us anymore attractive than South Africa?

Kobojunkie:

I would really love to go into it but I do not feel it is relevant but I do know that the Nigerian market is larger, and more capable than the South african market. It has been that way for decades and continues to be that way.

I am not an economist to give you the run down of it but I truly believe that and know that a lot of countries want to get a piece of that Nigerian market as soon as it opens up and they are not spending as much as they are on Nigeria, on south africa right now.