We need economic revival, not job retreat.

Since 1960, Our Government has continued to hypothesize job creation with every conceivable political hyperbole instead of actually creating jobs. Modern Nigeria begins with reorganizing our society to fulfill our obligations to one another and address the present realities of despair and despondency. This would require a complete overhaul of our system through political and economic strategies that are wholly productive. Presently, we are unnecessarily racing so fast to the top. We want to be at the same position with developed countries like US, Britain, and France. In fact, we want a permanent Seat at the Security Council and also crave to be at the world stage with G8 and G20 nations even though we lack the most basic necessities of life and grapple daily with very short life expectancy. There are great opportunities in Nigeria that have deliberately been left to close because we concentrate so deeply on those juicy sectors that employ a tiny population of Nigerians. With our double digit unemployment rate of 19.7%, we need to urgently revive our economy and create jobs.

Job creation in Nigeria is far beyond opportunities in Banking, Telecommunication and oil industries. A job summit or retreat that focuses on these sectors of our economy will only serve the interest of few privileged people. Nigeria turns out over 100,000 graduates yearly from our tertiary institutions which unequivocally implore states and Federal government to diversify their job creation strategies. We do not need experts from International consulting firms to tell us where to start and grow our economy. We know what we failed to do because we live in Nigeria and feel the excruciating pains of chronic unemployment and seriously declining economy. There are many job sectors in Nigeria that need to be revived as quickly as possible. Jobs like Retail business, Driving, Cleaning, Health care Assistants, Welfare services, private security, tailoring, dry cleaning, car wash, child care and culinary professions need to be comprehensively reorganized and spiced heavily with investments, trainings and incentives to make them enviously attractive. The list of these job categories is endless and there are many Nigerians who are willing to transform these sectors and make them look like what is obtainable in advanced countries. In US and Britain, people in these lines of businesses own houses and ride the best cars and they do not have degrees from Harvard and Oxford Universities. They feed comfortably and go on expensive holidays with their families. In Nigeria, they are neither honored nor respected and that is why opportunities that emanate from these sectors are noticeably untapped. These professions can engage as much as 20% of our population in different but interrelated ways, if properly developed. We just need to change the way we think and implore our government to step back and realize that all we need are those basic things of life that are very little but absolutely indispensable.

We are selective in our job hunt because Government is always concerned with racing to the top. As citizens, we have no option but to join in this struggle for those dignifying jobs with training opportunities and conferences overseas. An average Nigerian leaves the University with great obsession for quick money and strong predilection for bespoke shoes, ties and suits rather than sincere ambition for gradual growth and success. We spend a significant period of our post-graduation years to look for jobs that exist for the privileged few and ignore the full extent of our potentials to make a change and when we no longer find them, we indulge in criminal activities to cover lost times in order to quickly race to the top. In fact, many of us are on a fast run to absolutely unclear destinations because Government is lethargic to lead the way of proper job trainings, internships, career building and development workshops. We desperately need a change of orientation as the basis for awareness because we have been brought up to think about Nigeria in a way it doesn't truly exist.

It's very imperative for us to end our dependency on oil and develop our agricultural sector. In Nigeria, farming is classified as a typical village occupation but in developed countries, it is an international business. With our rich soils and huge farmlands, it's hard to fathom why Nigeria is not among farming nations despite spending trillions of Naira on the importation of fertilizers. We do not eat our rice, let alone cook with our locally produced palm oil. Our milk must have a trade mark of Holland whilst basic staple food, sugar, wheat and fish are either imported from Asia or Europe. Poultry farming is dead, whilst farm lands are being converted for other uses. The present state of our agriculture confirms that we are not serious with job creation. The same importers who are responsible for the demise of agriculture in Nigeria are part of the present government. They benefit extensively from government contracts and use importation to kill our local industries. Therefore, any job retreat involving these importers with insatiable penchant for money is counter-productive.

Besides, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are nearly extinct because of inadequate supply of electricity and high cost of production. Nigerians are relocating their industries to Ghana and other stable West African countries. In this 21st century, Nigeria imports more than it exports to the outside world. Of more than 1 billion telephone handsets that may have so far been used by subscribers since the revolution of mobile telephony in 2001, none was manufactured in Nigeria. There is hardly any Nigerian household without a significant number of cooking utensils and electronic equipments from China. With a London suit, Italian shoes and a wrist watch from Dubai, an average Nigerian professional goes to work as unofficial ambassador of these countries we unknowingly market their products. Government assistance for the growth of SMEs is conspicuously lacking whilst cheap funds are difficult to procure from banks. With very high interest rate, huge collaterals and strict lending conditions, the growth of business and expansion of employment opportunities will continue to experience gridlocks. To create jobs, Government needs to revive all our manufacturing industries and drive innovation. We need to fall back on our own products and strictly ban the importation of all goods that we can produce at home. A flourishing market would require uninterrupted supply of electricity to reduce the cost of production. The removal of oil subsidy will create more retrenchment opportunities than employment opportunities hence it will lead to higher cost of goods and services that will ultimately result to staff downsizing.

With a capital expenditure of less than 27%, it is difficult to be responsive with job creation in a country that requires huge investments in infrastructure. Corruption has reached a very high degree of insensitivity where unemployed graduates are openly requested to offer bribes in order to secure jobs in government establishments. Our people brazenly indulge in Drug trade, Arm trafficking, human trafficking, kidnapping, robberies, and Intellectual property rights violations, just to race to the top. Government needs to step back to those low paying jobs and revive them with every conceivable attraction. We need to restore dignity in every aspect of labor by laying solid foundations for human growth and development. We must produce and buy our own products because the present state of world economies requires countries to fall back to their citizens and tap their talents.

The Federal government job summit or retreat will not address our unemployment challenges because it lacks a comprehensive agenda for full economic revival that opens opportunities in every aspect of our economy. We need a society where people are appreciated for who they are and celebrated for services they render. We are a deeply divided society where too much emphasis is placed on University degrees at the expense of our natural talents. A country where everyone must be a graduate leaves a lot of employment challenges to contend with. This is our problem because we have outnumbered all existing opportunities for employment based on our degrees. It therefore requires a strategic government to break this code and open a floodgate of opportunities that bring Nigerians to the right part for growth and employment because we are a highly talented population with a capacity to change the world.

Blessing Maduagwu is an alumnus of Hult International Business School London. (Formerly Huron University, USA in London). He holds degrees in History and International Relations.