Unemployment, a time bomb

ABEOKUTA— FORMER President
Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday,
warned the Federal Government of
the possibility of having what he
called “Arab spring” experience in
Nigeria if the rate of
“unemployment,” is not checked.
Obasanjo who spoke at the June 12
Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta,
during a workshop on ‘Economic
Diversification and Revenue

Generation,’organised by the Ogun
State government and Revenue
Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission,
lamented the soaring rate of
unemployment, which he said
agriculture could solve.
While citing some of the Arab
countries that had experienced the
wrath of their people over
unemployment, the elder statesman
said Egypt and Libya witnessed the
Arab spring in the Middle East
despite the fact that their economy
did experience growth.
He said: “In
the Arab
countries
where there
were mass
civil protests
against the
governments,
this happened
because there was a disconnect
between the economic growth in
those nations and employment
generation for their people. It
doesn’t matter which way you look
at it today. People are now talking of
Arab spring and some people will
say, is Egypt not developing? On
economic scale, after South Africa, it
is Egypt in Africa. Has Libya not got
resources?
“At one time with a population of
about five million, Libya was
producing as much oil as Nigeria
was producing. But there was still
discontent because, yes, in terms of
Gross Domestic Products, GDP, it
may be growing well but in terms of
employment generation, there is
disconnect. That is one of the
elements that led to Arab spring.
There are others but let me take this
one that is relevant to our discussion
today. If this is the case, agriculture
and agricultural business is
important.”
Calls for investments in agric-
business
Obasanjo said serious attention
must be paid to agriculture and
agric-business by all tiers of
governments in the country as a tool
for employment generation for the
unemployed Nigerians so that the
Arab Spring does not rear its ugly
head in the country.
He, however, urged financial
institutions, large scale farmers,
small and medium scale farmers,
researchers, retailers, distributors
and governments to get involved in
the use of agric-business and
agriculture to create jobs and food
in order to enhance “national
security and stability.
He lamented that for too long, the
nation has been mobilizing and
sharing revenue from only one
source – oil, and that the time has
come for governments to devise
ingenious ways of expanding their
revenue base by venturing into
agriculture, tourism,
industrialization and
manufacturing.
While declaring the workshop open,
Governor Ibikunle Amosun called
for a review of the revenue sharing
formula, saying 26 per cent
allocation for states is too small for
any state to engage in developmental
projects.
Amosun said his administration
would devise more ingenious
avenues of generating additional
income through agriculture and
industrialization to create jobs and
make more income available for the
people. He expressed the optimism
that a time would come when Ogun
State “will care less about what
comes from the Federal
Government,”saying the government
would create structures that could
help accomplish that dream.