Apocalypse Circle

It is no longer news that majority of Nigerians are poor. In fact, the giant of Africa has been described by the World Poverty Clock as the poverty capital of the world, with about 87 million people living in poverty. Alongside poverty, the country is currently bedeviled with insecurities and violent conflicts. In what Brookings scholar Susan Rice calls ‘Doom Spiral’, it shows that poverty and conflict reinforce each other.

Poverty creates a condition of abject need and lack of the ability to satisfy those needs. The picture tells the story of hunger, lack of access to basic healthcare, malnutrition, exposure to diseases, high level of unemployment resulting to economic hardship, etc. UK Financial Times report reveals that unemployment rate in the country has soared from 8.2 percent in 2015 to 23.1 in the third quarter of 2018. The rich harvest of violent crimes across various regions of the country attests to the strength of this massive pool of idle people.

When poverty contributes to insecurity, it in turn, worsens the poverty level. Governance is weakened by insecurity as resources for development are channeled towards maintaining stability. Private investors flee because the situation is unsuitable for business. Infrastructures are eroded by violence and the labour force, as an important aspect of economic development, are either victims or perpetrators of violence. Economic growth is greatly depleted.

While Brookings holds that the private sector has a critical role to play in providing employment opportunities for young people, government also has a prominent role to play in ensuring that the environment is safe enough for private sector investment. It will be a continuous circle of doom if government does not efficiently mitigate the spate of insecurities nationwide for economic growth to stand a chance.

An article, ‘The Scary Youth Unemployment’ argues that jobless youths are security threat to the rest of the society. It advocates for the prioritisation of skills acquisition and education. As this will help in wealth creation and also take the youths off the streets.