“Looking for a job in Nigeria is just too frustrating! Like most of her peers, Chidera Stephen believes that it is impossible to find a job without the help of a parent or a trusted acquaintance. After obtaining a diploma in communication in 2017, the young woman, now 25 years old, has multiplied the disappointments. “A lot of employers in Lagos [the economic capital] want to make sure that you live right next to your job because the wages are too low and transport is too expensive,” she complains.
In recent years, she has gone through low-paid jobs, if not unpaid at all, internships and temporary assignments, without ever finding a permanent job. To keep her head above water, Chidera finally decided to sell shea butter and black soap on the internet, as her YouTube channel - which offers tips for the beauty of African hair - reports to her. a few dollars for every thousand "views" recorded. "I'm smart, resourceful ... so at one point I realized that it was not me, but this country," she blurted bitterly.
Chidera Stephen is one of millions of young victims of the economic crisis in Africa's most populous country, with 200 million people. As Nigeria is barely emerging from its second recession in five years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced in early April that one in three working people were now unemployed. Official unemployment figures have quadrupled since the election of President Muhammadu Buhari as head of the country in 2015. Young people are particularly affected, since this scourge affected 53% of those under 24 and 37% of 25-34 year-olds. fourth quarter 2020.