Nigeria’s Worsening Job Crisis Feels Like There’s No Hope – AlJazeera
There has been one single promise that has dominated the election manifestos of Nigeria’s presidential candidates as they seek to lure the support of the country’s voters ahead of polls in February: jobs, jobs and more jobs. This has also been the one issue that has consumed Immaculate Uba, who lost her bank job two years ago. “It has been a horrible experience I never expected in my life – knowing fully well that you are willing and able to work but can’t secure a job,” she told Al Jazeera in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. “I am still searching for a paid job,” she says. In the meantime, she adds, she’s trying to make a living by doing bead- and shoe-making work. Shrinking opportunities Four out of every 10 people in the country’s workforce are either unemployed or underemployed. The unemployment rate stood at 18.8 percent in the third quarter of 2017, with underemployment at 21.2 percent. The National Bureau of Statistics has not released new jobs data since last year, prompting a...
