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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn January, the Federal Government increased corps members\u2019\nmonthly allowance from N19,800 to N33,000 \u2013 in line with the new minimum wage\nof N30,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This implies that Ojo\u2019s salary is even less than a corps\nmember\u2019s initial allowance (N19,800) before the increment to N33, 000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said, \u201cI apologise to my parents every month because I\ncan\u2019t take care of them. They sent me to school and I am supposed to be paying\nback now, but it is quite unfortunate I\u2019m unable to do so now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThankfully, my siblings are better paid where they are\nworking, so my parents get some stipends from them. But as the last child and\nonly female, I ought to also care for my parents while they are still alive. I\nhope to be able to do that soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Ojo is not the only graduate earning less than corps\nmembers in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another graduate, Moses Akano, who teaches at a private\nsecondary school in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said he was earning N25,000 per\nmonth, which is N8, 000 less than a corps member\u2019s allowance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After being posted to one of the riverine communities in the\nstate in 2015 for the NYSC programme and not knowing whether he would get a job\nif he returned to his home town in Osun State after the programme\u2019s completion,\nAkano said he had to stay back in Yenagoa after he was offered a job of N25,\n000. However, the 28-year-old said he was doing private tutorials for some\nsecondary school students and through this initiative he had been making extra\nincome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said, \u201cI was posted to Oporoma, a community in Southern\nIjaw Local Government Area in 2015 for the NYSC scheme. In 2016 when I\ncompleted the programme, I contemplated returning home but, of course, there was\nno job waiting for me. I got a teaching job here and I stayed back. The pay is\nlow but I do some private teachings to support it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twenty-seven-year old Chika Nwabuikwu, who graduated from a\npolytechnic in Edo State, said she had to settle for a sales attendant job in\nBenin City when she couldn\u2019t get her dream job. She said she had submitted\nseveral CVs to companies both within and outside Edo State for the past two\nyears but she had yet to get positive feedback. Because of this, Nwabuikwu said\nshe had no choice but to take up the sales attendant job, where she was being\npaid N20, 000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said, \u201cLife is difficult. Sometimes I ask myself why I\nwent to school to end up with a job that even secondary school leavers could\ndo. It is quite ridiculous and embarrassing. I can\u2019t even take care of myself\ntalk less of catering to the needs of my siblings who look up to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy parents are retired and thank God they earn monthly\npensions; if not, I don\u2019t know how I would be able to take care of them at\ntheir old age. I am intensifying efforts to get a better job because I feel\nawkward every morning going to a job that is far below my skill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graduate unemployment in Nigeria<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Nigerian context, a graduate is someone who has\nsuccessfully completed their first academic degree in a university approved by\nthe National Universities Commission or a polytechnic approved by the National\nBoard for Technical Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of 2019, there were 170 universities (43 federal, 48\nstate and 79 private) in the country, according to data from the NUC. On the\nother hand, there are 134 polytechnics (29 federal, 48 state and 57 private) in\nthe country, according to data from the NBTE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By some estimates, these tertiary institutions chunk out\naround 500,000 graduates every year, to join the labour market where around 25\nmillion graduates are said to be unemployed, according to the National Bureau\nof Statistics. According to 2018 data from the NBS, graduate unemployment has\nalmost tripled within three years, from 12 per cent in 2015 to 30 per cent in\n2018. But the national unemployment rate is around 23 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NBS also stated that the number of persons in the labour\nforce had increased from 85.1 million to 90.5 million. Over 9.7 million\nNigerians were said to have absolutely done no job within less than a year. Likewise,\nin its 2019 report, the International Labour Organisation estimated youth\nunemployment rate in Nigeria to be around 20 per cent, even though the country\nhas the largest economy in Africa, in addition to high human and natural\nresources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnemployment in Nigeria is largely attributed to the\nphenomena of jobless growth, increased number of school graduates with no\nmatching job opportunities, rise in employment in many public and private\nsector institutions and continued job losses in the manufacturing and oil\nsectors,\u201d ILO stated. To tackle youth unemployment in Nigeria, the organisation\nsaid emphasis must be placed on entrepreneurship, employability, employment\ncreation and equal opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, while many Nigerian graduates are unemployed,\nmany are said to be among the underemployed in the country, representing about\n20 per cent of the labour force. Labour that falls under the underemployment\nclassification includes highly skilled workers working in low-paying or\nlow-skill jobs. In this case, an individual is working but not working at their\nfull capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018We\u2019re working just to stay alive\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A second class upper graduate of Biology, Margaret Ekwealor,\nworks as an attendant at a grocery supermarket in Ikeja, Lagos, earning N30,000\nper month, which is also below a corps member\u2019s monthly allowance. When she\ndeducts about N10,000 from the salary which she spends on transportation, she\nis left with N20,000. By the time she subtracts other expenses, she is left\nwith nothing at the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said, \u201cThe job is just to stay alive, nothing else. If\nnot that I\u2019m living with my parents, probably I would have been depressed. For\nnow, my parents still take care of me. It\u2019s not too good but this is what life\nhas thrown at me now. Actually, I got a teaching job at a private secondary\nschool which offered me N35,000 but I found out I don\u2019t have a passion for\nteaching. For now, I\u2019m managing with the sales attendant job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, Folahan Gbadebo, who graduated from one of the federal\npolytechnics in the country studying mechanical engineering, teaches physics\nand mathematics at a private secondary school in Osun State, earning a paltry\nsalary of N15,000, an amount less than half of a corps member\u2019s salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, \u201cI tried so hard to get a job. I have written\nseveral application letters and submitted CVs to many companies across the\ncountry but I\u2019ve got no response yet. \u201cI was jobless for almost four years\nbefore I got the teaching job. The income is ridiculously low but I have to\ncater to my needs. I\u2019m into farming as a side hustle and I hope it will be my\nmain hustle later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, a graduate of accounting, Kabiru Lawal, works as a\nmarketer in a Lagos firm and earns N30,000 monthly, an amount he said could\nbarely sustain him. The father of one lamented that despite applying for\nseveral job recruitments, his application had yet to be successful in any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, \u201cTo get a job in this country is not easy at all.\nIn fact, everything seems to be hard in Nigeria. To get university admission\nwas a struggle for me; now finishing the university and not getting a good job\nis another struggle. \u201cThat was why I jumped at the marketing job I\u2019m doing\ncurrently. It\u2019s not easy but I\u2019m doing it just to stay alive. Thankfully, my\nwife works as a teacher in a private school and supports with her income. It\nwouldn\u2019t have been easy to fend for her and our three-year-old son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story of a biochemistry graduate and hotel attendant in\nthe Egbeda area of Lagos, Adedolapo Salam, was not different from others. After\ngraduating from one of the universities in Kwara State and completing the NYSC\nscheme with no job, she said she had to take up a hotel attendant job for the\ntime being, adding that she was being paid N30, 000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said, \u201cI\u2019m doing the job not to stay idle. Sometimes I\nsit down and ponder what is going wrong. I mean, for the past two years, I\u2019ve\nbeen looking for a better job but I have got none. \u201cRight now, hotels are shut\ndue to the coronavirus pandemic, so no income is coming in. I have just been\nbarely surviving. However, I thank God that I get some stipends from my elder\nsiblings. If not for that, I would have been totally broke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another graduate, Paul Ogboike, said he lost a N120,000\nmonthly salary job in 2016 and since then couldn\u2019t find another one. To make\nends meet, he said he had to take up a marketing job in Port Harcourt, Rivers\nState, in 2018, earning less than N30,000 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, \u201cInitially, I was not going to take up any job less\nthan N100,000. I thought to myself, \u2018How could I lose a job of N120,000 and\nthen take up one less than N100, 000?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCould you imagine I once got a job of N50, 000 but I turned\nit down because I felt it was not up to my standard? But as time went on and no\nother job was forthcoming, I became desperate. I now work as a marketer with a\nmonthly pay of N30,000. It\u2019s ridiculous but I need to stay alive as I hope for\nbetter things to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since graduating from the polytechnic three years ago\nstudying insurance, Aisha Madaki, who lives in Bauchi State, said she had been\nearning N20,000 per month working as an attendant at a restaurant. She said,\n\u201cThe work is strenuous and the pay is not encouraging but where is the job? I\nonce got employed by an insurance company and they branded me a marketing\nexecutive. I was happy as I just completed NYSC programme and I thought it was\na great offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know the word \u2018executive\u2019 added no meaning to my\ntitle. I thought the pay was big and I would be chauffeur-driven like a real\nexecutive. We even did thanksgiving in my home when I was given the employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut behold, when I resumed at the job, I was placed on\ncommission. I and my colleagues walked several miles per day under the hot sun\nlooking for clients. But I never got any. I quit after two or three months when\nlife was taking its toll on me. Later, I got a job as a waitress at a\nrestaurant. But the pay is low.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, Vincent Nwosu couldn\u2019t get a job with his bachelor\u2019s\ndegree in physics, so he took up a security job at a private firm in Enugu,\nearning N20,000 monthly. \u201cWhat have I got to do when I searched everywhere for\na job but got none? I had to take up the N20,000 job but I know this is not my\nfinal destination. I will keep searching for a better job and I know it will\ncome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boosting employment and employability skills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Although successive governments in Nigeria have always\npromised to create jobs, human resource experts believed it was not the job of\nthe government alone to create the number of jobs that graduates needed, hence\nthe need for the government to create the right policies and environment for\nthe private sector to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An analyst with an investment firm at Victoria Island,\nLagos, Mr Tope Oni, said most private companies that paid low income to\ngraduates usually did so because of the huge running costs they incurred, hence\nthe need for them to cut other expenses like salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, \u201cI know companies that spend millions of naira on\nfuel expenses alone for generators per month. Imagine if these expenses were\nnot incurred if the government was providing regular electricity, the companies\nwould be able to pay their staff better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor some other companies like food and haulage companies,\nthe cost of transportation is on the high side. These are all expenses that\ncontribute to many companies\u2019 inability to pay graduates and other low-skill\nworkers good salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor the story to change, most of the solutions still lie in\nthe government\u2019s hands. There must be improved infrastructure, especially\nelectricity and transportation network. If only these two are well taken care\nof, I can assure you that many companies will be able to pay their workers\nbetter salaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, as the job market is saturated, a Lagos-based\ncareer coach, Dr Jadesola Bamidele, said getting a dream job was no longer\nserved on a silver platter. She, therefore, encouraged graduates to boost their\nemployability skills to secure their dream jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said, \u201cIt\u2019s no longer enough to graduate with a first\nclass or second class upper or whatever and think employers will be wooing you.\nIf a graduate is unable to demonstrate that they have the skills and abilities\nemployers are looking for, then they will keep complaining of not getting a\ngood job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe game has changed and a graduate really needs to go the\nextra mile, no matter what qualification they have, to have their dream job.\nFor instance, one will be shocked to see a graduate who can\u2019t write in English\ncorrectly. I\u2019ve seen this on many occasions. Could you employ such a graduate\nin a media company, especially print? No one would, even if the graduate\nstudied mass communication in a reputable institution and had a good grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese are the issues. There is unemployment so there is\nfierce competition out there. It\u2019s only graduates who have something fantastic\nto bring to the table that would be employed.\u201d A human resource professional,\nMrs Joyce Ugochukwu, also noted that employers wanted graduates with a variety\nof well-honed life skills, adding that getting the job done was no longer a\nskill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEmployers want graduates who can take initiative and\ndevelop innovative ideas. Having a good attitude, working hard and smart and\nstaying enthusiastic are some of the things any graduate would need to compete\nwell in the labour market,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, HR professional and career coach, Dr Eric\nBabatunde, said graduates needed 21st-century skills to be successful in\ntoday\u2019s job market. He said, \u201cIt\u2019s no longer just about having a good grade and\ngraduating from a reputable school. Today, the skills needed to be successful\nwhile job-hunting include ability to think critically and creatively;\ncollaborate, communicate and lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOther required skills are information technology and media\nliteracy. Some graduates can\u2019t even write a good CV. Some make unprofessional\nmistakes on their CVs like misspelling their institutions. These are some of\nthe areas any graduate should pay attention to, to get a good job. The job\nmarket is competitive. Only great people get the best offers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally published in PUNCH<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jesusegun Alagbe (Punch) When she graduated from one of the universities in the South-West in 2010 after studying agricultural economics, Oyenike Ojo hoped that she would get a lucrative job immediately after undergoing the one-year…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[407,406],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-polity-politics-governance","tag-corps-members","tag-nigerian-graduates"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/towncryyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/NUMBER-OF-UNEMPLOYED-NIGERIANS-RISES-TO-21M-IN-ONE-YEAR-1.jpg?resize=720%2C446&ssl=1\")
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