Unemployment: Ticking time bomb!

 

The recent recruitment scam perpetrated by the Nigeria Immigration Service which resulted in the death of at least 16 precious Nigerian youths was to say the least, disastrous. No right -thinking person can keep quiet in the face of such scandal.

Indeed, the unfortunate incident has turned our beloved country into an object of scorn in the comity of nations. We are now regarded as a bunch of unserious, unpatriotic and selfish crooks who are never ashamed to commit one atrocity or the other for self-aggrandisement and to the detriment of the collective good of the society.

The national shame perpetrated by the NIS has unwittingly brought to fore the unemployment ticking time bomb waiting to explode at any slight ignition if prompt actions are not taken by patriotic Nigerians.  Worse still, the critical condition in which Nigeria finds itself today calls for sober reflection by all Nigerians.

It is rather sad to note that if such a disaster  had occurred  in more serious climes, those involved either directly or remotely would have since owned up to their responsibility for gross failure and would have tendered  resignation letters immediately. But here we are in Nigeria where anything goes!

If Nigeria is to survive, the short and long-term solutions to unemployment crises bedevilling the nation must be found one way or the other. For example, Nigeria is today grossly under-policed when one looks at  the ratio of the  policemen/women to the population. There are less than one million police officers in Nigeria of more than 150 million people. I’m confident many young graduates would be more than willing to join the force.

This suggestion can be situated within the context of the recent lamentation  by the emir of Kano regarding the inadequate number of policemen in Kano State. What the highly revered emir meant was that Kano is starkly under-policed despite the present insecurity . The state with more than 15 million residents has less than ten thousand policemen. So, out of the over six million youths vying for the nonexistent jobs in the immigration service, why not absorb at least one or two million graduates into the police force to bolster the security of lives and property in the country.

The benefits derivable from this exercise need no emphasis. Aside from the employment opportunity for the teeming youths which will make our country much safer, a process of modernisation of the police force can be set in motion to weed out criminals existing in the force who know nothing more than extorting money and harassing motorists at various checkpoints. In addition, colonial mentality which still abounds in the force can also be removed with the injection of fresh and educated graduates who will understand civil-police relationship better and can easily be coached in modern security policing  in line with international best practices.

Of course, the above solution may be too simplistic a panacea for  the lingering unemployment crisis in the country, but  if applied can be very effective.

Kabiru Tsakuwa

Tsakuwa2000@yahoo.com