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The Influence Of Unemployment On Youths Involvement In Kidnapping In Nigeria
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1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Every society across the globe has its
peculiar problems and challenges. Nigeria is not an exception. As a
developing country, she faces her own share of social, political,
economic and cultural problems which has in no small measure affected
the well-being of the populace. Such problems bedeviling the country
include youth‟s unemployment and the rising wave of crime, which have
serious implications for national development.
The population of
youth in Nigeria is about 46.4 million especially between the age group
of 15- 39 years (National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Abuja. 2017). As
the overall population of the youth is growing, government should
provide jobs and other incentives to teeming unemployed graduates and
youths. Unfortunately, unemployment situation in Nigeria, especially the
youth has been on the increase since mid 1980s when the economy started
witnessing a down-turn. Although, unemployment is a global phenomenon
but the rate varies across different countries depending on the size and
capacity of the economy to provide jobs for its citizens.
Unemployment
rate in Nigeria has continued to be on the increase despite the
abundant human and natural resources available in the country. Chronic
youth‟s unemployment is evident in Nigeria. Every year, thousands of
graduates are produced but there are no jobs for majority of them.
Nigerian streets are littered with youth hawkers who ordinarily would
have found gainful employment in some enterprise (Okafor, 2011). The
large number of youths who are unemployed is capable of undermining
democratic practice as they constitute a serious threat if engaged by
the political class for clandestine and criminal activities (Okafor,
2011).
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2009), the
national unemployment rates for Nigeria between 2000 and 2011 showed
that the number of unemployed persons constituted 31.1% in 2000 and
reduced to 11- 9% in 2005. Again, it rose to 23.9% in 2011 and 29.5% in
2012. It has been projected by NBS that unemployment rate will rise
above 35% in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The same statistics showed that
on the average, youth unemployment rate in Nigeria was 46.5% in 2012
(BLG, 2012).The high rate of crime in Nigeria today has been blamed in
many quarters on unemployment, especially of the youth. Research
findings suggest also that the unemployed youth are disproportionally
more likely to be perpetrators as well as victims of crime and violence
(Okafor, 2011). The growing gap between the rich and the poor affects
the society through increased violence such as ritualism. Youths due to
the influence of unemployment nowadays want to get rich as quickly as
possible thus resorting to kidnapping.
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