Mr Bobboi Kaigama, President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), on Saturday said that the rate of unemployment in the country was still very high and urged Federal and State Governments to evolve new initiatives.
Kaigama told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that irrespective of the figure declared by the National Bureau of Statistics, the ratio of the unemployed people in the country was worrisome.
NAN reports that on Thursday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had stated that the number of those unemployed had dropped, after a review of the country’s labour statistics.
It said that the unemployed people had dropped from 16.07 million or 23.9 per cent in 2011 to 4.67 million or 6.4 per cent, as at the fourth quarter of 2014.
The TUC president said that whatever the statistics presented by the NBS, it is obvious that the figures of unemployed people in the country were on the increase.
“Every household in Nigeria has a minimum of two or three graduates without jobs. If you multiply that by no fewer than 160 million people in the country, it is a terrible figure,’’ Kaigama said.
He appealed to the Federal Government to resuscitate the Power sector, to create and boost both medium and large scale businesses.
“With electricity, industries will spring up. Lots of jobs will be created. Let the governments develop our solid minerals, tourism potentialities, as well as the agricultural sector,’’ the labour leader said.
The TUC chief said that if the incoming government should look into the power sector and resuscitate it, Nigeria would certainly bounce back economically.
NAN
Comments