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Checkmating Youth Unemployment In Nigeria: Fish Farming Option
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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Unemployment is
defined according to Oxford Advance Dictionary as the fact of number of
people without a job. Harold Goldstein (2008) defined unemployment as
enforced idleness of wage earners who are able and willing to work but
cannot find jobs. In societies in which most people can earn a living
only by working for others, being unable to find a job is a serious
problem. Because of its human costs in deprivation and a feeling of
rejection and personal failure, the extent of unemployment is widely
used as a measure of workers' welfare. The proportion of workers
unemployed also shows how well a nation's human resources are used and
serves as an index of economic activity.
Unemployment is a global
phenomenon in this 21st century. For example the rate of unemployment in
Belgium stood at 8.7% (statistics institute of Belgium, 2010).United
Arab Emirate rise to 12.7% (Emirate business April, 2008). United State
of America is 9.8% (office of national statistic US November, 2010).
The rates of unemployment in Africa are listed below: -
Ø South Africa 25.3% (statistic South Africa, 2010)
Ø Nigeria 19.7% (National Bureau for statistic federal Republic of Nigeria 2009, September).
Economists have described the causes of unemployment as frictional, seasonal, structural, and cyclical.
Frictional
unemployment arises because workers seeking jobs do not find them
immediately; while looking for work they are counted as unemployed.
Friction in this case refers to the incongruity between the demand for
and supply of labor.
Seasonal unemployment occurs when industries
have a slow season, such as construction and other outdoor work in
winter. It also occurs at the end of the school year in June, when large
numbers of students and graduates look for work. At its seasonal high
point (January and February), Structural unemployment arises from an
imbalance between the kinds of workers wanted by employers and the kinds
of workers looking for jobs. The imbalances may be caused by inadequacy
in skills, location, or personal characteristics. Technological
developments, for example, necessitate new skills in many industries,
leaving those workers who have outdated skills without a job.
Cyclical
unemployment results from a general lack of demand for labor. When the
business cycle turns downward, demand for goods and services drops;
consequently, workers are laid off. In the 19th century, the U.S.
experienced depressions roughly every 20 years.
However, several
effort have been made to tackle unemployment globally through fund from
international economic organization (like World Bank, International
monetary fund, European Economic Community), Government, corporate
organization, non Governmental parastatal and individual. Attentions are
driven toward creating job rather than seeking for job.
Ogunleye
G.A. (2004) says in the face of severe unemployment experienced by a
country as Nigeria, small and medium scale is usually the way out. The
experience of some developed countries like United States of America and
China that SME has contributed to the growth and development of these
economies, especially in terms of employment, contribution to GDP,
export, etc. it is as a result of these that U.S.A currently has a small
business sector that has about 22 million small sector generating more
than a half of the country’s GDP, employing about 53% of the total
private workforce, and is responsible for creation of all new jobs. Also
in china, the number of township enterprises (as SME are called )
increase from 1.52 million in 1978 to 19 million in 1991. During this
period, their employees increased from 28 million to 96 million. The
same is true of rural Middle East and Asian.
In a developing country
like Nigeria, SMEs have been recognized as the foundation for achieving
rapid economic growth and development by way of their output as well as
employment potentials. However, despite the numerous advantages of SMEs,
the contribution of this sector to the overall economic development of
the nation has over the years remained low. Because of this problems and
in recognition of SMEs advantage federal government of Nigeria has over
the years continued to play pioneering and active roles since the 1970s
in stimulating SMEs. Notable among the past present and measures for
combating unemployment include:
1. provision of strong institutional support which can be seen in the following:
·
The establishment of the small scale industries credit schemes (SSIC)
in 1971.the scheme was operated as a matching grant between state and
federal government to make credit available for small and medium
enterprise.
· The establishment of industrial
development centers (IDC) 1970-1975.under the plan, #800,000 was
allocated for setting up IDCs in various parts of the country. The aim
of government was to provide extension services to the SME as they
relate to product development, entrepreneurial training, and technical
appraisal of loan application as well as managerial assistance.
·
Establishment of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) 1986. Through
the Directorate, a number of programmes such as small scale industries,
youth Employment and vocational skills Development, etc, were embarked
upon to boost employment.
· Working for Yourself
Programme (WFYP) with the assistance of British council and the
international labour organization (ILO), the federal ministry of
industries established this programme to provide technical skills to
business entrepreneurs.
2. Establishment of
industrial banks and ensuring easy access to credit facilities at
reasonable rates. Government realize fund to the established bank
through central bank of Nigeria. The established banks are:
o The
Nigerian industrial development bank (1964).the bank can grant loan from
# 50000- #15 million but not more than the 75% of the fixed asset of
the business being finance.
o The Nigeria bank for commerce and
industry (1973) to furtherance of its objective to ensure availability
of finance to indigenous entrepreneurs.
o National economic reconstruction fund (NERFUND) Set up in 1989 to provide medium to long term loan for SME.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Checkmating unemployment among Nigeria youth: fish farming option is a project meant to look into the unemployment situation in the country, identify the course and effect and possible effort being made by the government to remedy the situation. The fish farming option can be seen as an option to checkmate unemployment. So, this project focuses on exploring the fish farming business as the way youth can be self-employed. This project is divided into five chapters with chapter one starting with t ... Continue reading---
