Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!

According Fareed Zakaria, the presenter of Global Public Square (GPS) on CNN, Americas real crisis as of today is unemployment. According to available statistics some 24 million are out of work. Says Zakaria, Long term unemployment means a lost generation to the country, communities and families. He goes on to suggest the following as ways out: Help small business\revive manufacturing; Help growth industries like tourism, entertainment; Rebuild infrastructure to create jobs. Finally he says people need to work be productive and pay taxes fast for society to thrive. By the way Europe is weighed down by high rates of unemployment too. Few weeks ago one of our national dailies featured a photograph on its front page of thousands of Spanish people marching to protest unemployment. We dont have statistics but everyone knows someone who is unemployed. It was graduation time at Babcock University on Sunday. It was a moment of joy and elation for parents and guardians. Whole families attended the ceremony; it was all very colourful indeed. The car parks and road sides full of vehicles, buses. Parking was a night mare! People from all walks of life were in attendance to proudly watch as a member of their family graduated from a university; hawkers, and vendors made great sales too. But after the celebration then what? Where are the jobs for the fresh graduates we turn out of our universities every year? Nigerians have been asked to dream again. What you see in your dreams we can achieve together charged President Jonathan in his inaugural speech at Eagle Square. We may want to borrow some of ideas from what Zakaria suggested for America though we have our unique problem of a decayed power sector. An old friend was lamenting the other day that there is hardly any light where she stays in Lagos and the generator runs practically round the clock. Where do you live I asked? Ikoyi she replied. But thats a high brow area I replied surprised that they feel the pinch as much as the rest of us. Jobs and the power sector constitute two f the pressing issues that urgently need to be tackled. In his inauguration address on Sunday May 29, Dr Jonathan urges us to lift our gaze towards the horizon; look ahead and we will see a great future that we can secure with unity, hard work and collective sacrifice.