The Unemployment Manifesto

The
UNEMPLOYMENT
MANIFESTO
A thought provoking report on Nigeria's
unemployment challenge
Aruosa Osemwegie
A u t h o r o f G e t t i n g A J o b I s A J o b
The
UNEMPLOYMENT
MANIFESTO
Aruosa Osemwegie
A u t h o r o f G e t t i n g A J o b I s A J o b
About the Author
Aruosa Osemwegie is a Human Resource consultant, Life
& Career Coach, Job Search Strategist, Workplace
Readiness Coach, and Youth Instigator. He is certied as a
Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a
Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR), with
experience as a Practitioner, Consultant and Theorist in
People Management. He has had learning experience at
the Obafemi Awolowo University, the Lagos Business
School and the Harvard Business School. He has had rich
experience working and consulting in some of Nigeria's
leading-light organisations. Aruosa has a particular
passion for helping people 'extend themselves beyond
themselves'. He is the author of the impact-making books:
Getting a Job is a Job: A No- Nonsense Practical Guide to
Getting Your Desired JobandNothing Succeeds like Excess:
A New Code for Maximised Living. His international base
is in Lagos-Nigeria, with his family and his resolve is to
'enable exceptional expressions' in and through African
individuals, organisations and communities.
Connect with him:
Email:aruosa@gettingajobisajob.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aruosaosemwegie
Twitter: @aruosaosemwegie
Copyright 2014 by Aruosa Osemwegie
All rights reserved. Available for free sharing and distribution
Published by Getting a Job is a Job Resources Ltd, Lagos-Nigeria:
+234 8100899991; info@gettingajobisajob.com
Cover and Interior design:
Acumen Media - www.acumen.com.ng
CONTENT
A STATE OF EMERGENCY ON UNEMPLOYMENT
4
THE POLITICALLY DUMB SOLUTIONS
TO UNEMPLOYMENT
HOW SCHOOLS CAN STIMULATE
PRODUCTIVITY AND EMPLOYMENT
27
RAISE WORKPLACE & ENTERPRISE
READINESS INDEX
THE UNSPOKEN CAUSES OF MASS
UNEMPLOYMENT BY PROF. F. E OGBIMI
10
15
21
33
39
HOW SCHOOLS ARE FUNDING
UNEMPLOYMENT
UNEMPLOYMENT - INVOLVING THE
UNINVOLVED
A STATE OF EMERGENCY
ON UNEMPLOYMENT,
PART 1
write not as a prophet of doom but as the voice of one crying in the
I
wilderness The level of idleness or unproductivity among young adults in
Nigeria has risen to proportions that demand the enactment of a state of
emergency on unemployment. Please I do not mean the 'political' state of
emergency that is sometimes thrown at everything; so, let's get our denition
right: A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend
some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert
citizens to change their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to
implement emergency preparedness plans.
It can also be used as a rationale for suspending rights and freedoms, even if
guaranteed under the constitution. Such declarations usually come during a
time of natural or man-made disaster, during periods of civil unrest, or
following a declaration of war or situation of international or internal armed
conict(Wikipedia). In simple English, we need to suspend the normal less-
than-productive work some people are doing in Abuja; alert citizens (corporate
and individual) to changes in mindset and contribution; and demand/order
government agencies and the public to implement emergency preparedness
plans to tackle the cancerous situation rapidly destroying the much-needed
human resources vital to real economic growth and development.
THE SCARY STATISTICS
Some very disturbing alarming statistics stare us in the face. With an estimated
170 million people, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. According to
the National Child Policy (2007), a child shall be taken to be a person below the
age of eighteen (18) years. At the last count, the country's average age is 19 and
Nigerian children constitute about 51% of the total population, with about 40%
being young people between the ages of 10 and 24 years. The Nigerian
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that
good men do nothing [or do little].
- Anonymous
6
National Youth policy (2001:2), denes youth as comprising all young persons
between the ages 18 and 35 years who are citizens of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. Taking these two groups together, the population of Nigerians below
the age of 35 comprises 60% of the entire population of the country. In
absolute terms there are more young people in Nigeria today than any other
segment of the population. According to The World Bank, about 50 million
Nigerian youths are unemployed. The National Bureau of Statistics says
unemployment level was 23.9% in 2011, and that there has been an increase
from 2009, so it simply means that we have up to 36million unemployed
youths.
The level of idleness or unproductivity among young adults in
Nigeria has risen to proportions that demands the enactment
of a state of emergency on unemployment.
Yet this gure doesn't seem to be reducing; rather it has been on the increase
with the Bureau reluctantly admitting that the rate of unemployment has been
on an increase in the last three years. In other words, many Nigerian youths,
more than twice the entire ocial population of Lagos State, wake up every day
with no economically productive activity to do. Now, that is scary.
THE COMBUSTIBLE MIX OF IDLENESS, HOPELESSNESS, CORRUPT LEADERSHIP
AND UNUTILIZED ENERGY
The only way to look at this matter is that the cup of unemployment is half
empty thus requiring far-reaching yet urgent solutions. A number of
commentators have rightly observed that there exists an unholy alliance
between mass unemployment, hopelessness and insurgence/crime. Increase
in the amount and nature of unemployment leads to idleness and
helplessness. The existence of clueless or selsh leadership compounds
helplessness to hopelessness while brazen corruption quadruples the
challenge and leads to youthful restiveness. For there is a dierence between a
child that is hungry but condent/hopeful that his dad would bring back food
from work and the one whose father has gone on a drunken spree and food
isn't come. Continued helplessness, and hopelessness on an idle mind (on an
idle mind with a strong body) is the very tonic for increase in crime, and of
course insurgence.
7
AFRICAN ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN AFRICA
The African Economic Outlook, a publication in its 11th year, found it an
imperative to focus its 2012 edition on Promoting Youth Employment in Africa.
This publication is jointly published by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa, UNECA; the United Nations Development Population,
UNDP; the African Development Bank Group; and the Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development. An excerpt reads: As successive
editions of the African Economic Outlook have shown, Africa's rate of growth
has outperformed the global rate over the last decade. Yet high growth is not
sucient to guarantee productive employment for all. Large sections of the
population, and particularly the young, can be left behind and become
frustrated. In the absence of a political process allowing them to express their
views and produce policy changes, instability can result, as it did last year in a
number of North African countries.
In other words, many Nigerian youths, more than twice the
entire ocial population of Lagos State, wake up every day
with no economically productive activity to do. Now, that is
scary.
This is an opportune time to reset the policy agenda of African governments
towards an inclusive, employment-creating and sustainable growth strategy,
aimed particularly at addressing the special needs of the young.
WHY IS YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT A CRITICAL ISSUE IN FRAGILE STATES?
It later asks this question Why is youth unemployment a critical issue in fragile
states? Their answer: Grievances among the young are most likely to be
expressed violently, if non-violent political channels are not adequate or
responsive (USAID 2006) and these grievances revolve around unemployment,
involving considerations of both income and social cohesion. One in two
young people who join a rebel movement cites unemployment as the main
reason for doing so (World Bank, 2011b).
In Liberia, which has suered two civil wars since 1989, driven by a combustible
mix of ethnic divisions, predatory elites, corruption and competition for the
prots from natural resources, today it is unemployment that is seen as a
major risk to stability (International Crisis Group, 2011). Conict in one country
shaves an estimated 0.5 percentage points o the annual rate of growth in a
8
neighboring country (Collier et al., 2003). It can create a refugee population,
disrupt trade, provoke an arms race, provide a haven for rebels and itself
become theater of a new war.
NEED FOR NEW THOUGHTWARE AND NEW YET URGENT MASSIVE ACTIONS
Actually my thrust with this treatise isn't to again prove that massive youth
unemployment laced with barefaced corruption not only leads to youth
restiveness but could also lead to insurrection. Statistics and history seems to
make this point clearly. How do we climb out of this quicksand? How do we at
least begin to show the rst signs of dealing with this monster? Two quotes
attributed to Albert Einstein ash through my mind: insanity is doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting dierent results and we cannot solve
our problems with the same level of thinking that created them. We obviously
need new thoughtware, new resolve, collaborative energy, seless ideas,
simultaneous solutions, openness to dissenting views and new yet urgent
massive actions. As said earlier, we need to declare a state of emergency on
unemployment, thus suspending the normal less-than-productive work some
people are doing in Abuja; alert citizens (corporate & individuals) to changes in
mindset and involvement; and demand/order government agencies and the
public to implement preparedness plans.
EVERYONE MUST DO SOMETHING
As we set out in this New Year, we need to get our national, corporate and
individual imperatives right, and the rst breakthrough solution is the national
resolve that 'Everyone Must Do Something'. For all that is necessary for the
triumph of evil is that good men do nothing [or do little]. The days of expecting
governments to solve ALL problems are long gone. There is a part the
government should and must play and there is a part YOU can play. All
institutions (educational, religious, for-prot, non-prot) must bring their
twelve loaves and ve shes. The days are gone when lecturers would fold
their hands expecting government, or university administration or even the
Ministry of Education to come sweep away the 'problems with these youths'.
The days are also gone (or should be gone) when the universities/polytechnics
would keep students for 4-5 years and HOPE that they turn out well after they
have been 'thrown' into the labour market. Corporate organisations must also
come up with ideas-driven social solutions and contributions beyond just
complaining about the quality of our graduates and refurbishing school
buildings and furniture. Sending ONLY your kids overseas isn't doing
something. Today's graduates are unemployable. That refrain wouldn't win a
9
Nobel Prize. The question is this, what are you going to do about it? Various
professionals in dierent elds (human resources, economics, science &
technology, planning, etc) must contribute their quota. Apathy, supercial or
patronizing contributions may actually achieve more ill than good. That you
and I are in this part of the world, at a time like this, places a responsibility on
us.
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PRIVILEGE
The responsibility of privilege, at least that is what Prof Yemi Osinbajo called it
in a paper he delivered in 2012. And I quote: It is my submission that attached
to the privileged status of the elite in society is a responsibility. Responsibility
simply refers to that social or moral force which binds a person or group to
their obligations and the courses of action or conduct demanded by that force.
It is my thesis, that the privileged, or the elite both individually and collectively
have a responsibility, an obligation to society to plan it, organize it, order or
reorder it and above all to make sacrices for it, for the maximum benet of all.
This is the burden of privilege. It is their obligation individually and collectively
to chart the course for the millions, dene and house the ethos and the public
sense of the people.
This is an opportune time to reset the policy agenda of African
governments towards an inclusive, employment-creating and
sustainable growth strategy, aimed particularly at addressing
the special needs of the young
It is their expected role to nd common cause across professions, vocations,
ethnicities and faiths, dening the minimum terms and conditions for the
safety, security, growth and prosperity of the community. They dene clearly
what is lofty, what is noble, what is deserving of honour and how these values
can be sustained, preserved and enforced. This is the burden of privilege.
Noblese obligeie nobility obligates or perhaps more correctly for our purpose,
privilege obligates. Put better there is such a thing as the Responsibility of
Privilege. This is the obligation or burden which privilege places on an
individual, group or indeed a generation. If fate has blessed you or your
organisation with any privilege then use it to deal a blow, albeit small, on this
monster called unemployment. You would be doing it for both altruistic
(healing society) and for selsh reasons (preventing crime from extending in
your direction).
10
SOLUTIONS MENU
Let's attempt to set criteria for the additional solutions. We should look out for
ideas or solutions that achieves one or some of the following: 1) helps to plug
the leaks through which money is being lost; 2) have capacity to absorb large
numbers of youths; 3) those that make great use of resources we are already
endowed with; 5) those that help our youths grow in knowledge and skill and
thereby increases their production capacity; 6) one that institutionalizes and
enthrones excellence and eort; 7) one that creates wealth today and always;
8) would make us one of the top exporters in certain categories within 10-15
years; 9) reduce our dependence on oil and maximize returns from oil; 10) add
other criteria. In the coming publications we would be highlighting specic
ideas, some already espoused by others.
Our l i st i ncl udes: the need to pursue i ndustri al i zati on;
agriculturisation (commercial production and maximization of the
agriculture value chain); powerisation (unearthing the economic
value of the power sector); miningrisation (unlocking the economic
value of the natural resources in various states); 'solutions-before-
the-problem' (harnessing the contribution of our school system);
government makeover (rethinking the role of various arms of
government); what corporate organisations can do; sustainable
entrepreneurship and SME development etc.
WAR AGAINST UNEMPLOYMENT IS A WAR AGAINST TERROR
I would end the rst part of this series with a story told by Prof Yemi Osinbajo at
the meeting I mentioned earlier. It goes thus: In 1994 I served as a United
Nations Justice Sector expert in Mogadishu, Somalia. The country had failed
then, after several years of misrule, corruption, neglect of social justice and
disregard for the rule of law. The nation was now managed by warlords (area
boys to use a more familiar expression). Every part of the city and country had
its own reigning warlord. There was hardly any food, chaos everywhere. In one
of the camps, were hungry men, women and children queued up for food, in a
long line with their bowls. On the line were former university professors,
former senior public servants, former Supreme Court justices, former
journalists, all hungry, waiting in line with their little bowls for food from the
World Food Programme. Apparently delays have dangerous ends
(Shakespeare, King Henry) and "all the world's a stage, and all the men and
women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; and one man
in his time plays many parts" (Shakespeare, As You Like It). What part are you
11
INTRODUCTION
I write not as a prophet of doom but as the voice of one crying in the
wilderness The level of idleness or unproductivity among young adults in
Nigeria has risen to proportions that demand the enactment of a state of
emergency on unemployment. That was the statement that started the rst
part of this multi-part treatise on the need to nd solutions to mass
unemployment in Nigeria. In this part we seek a deep dive into the probable
causes of mass unemployment. Isn't there a clich that a problem understood
is half solved? We thus need to invest time and resources into understanding
the root causes as a foundation to slowing down the damage and eventually
solving this malaise. In his seminal book, Solutions to Mass Unemployment in
Nigeria, Professor F. E. Ogbimi of Obafemi Awolowo University oers anumber
of provocative ideas on the discourse.
WHY THERE IS MASS UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA
The second chapter of the book is titled, Why there is Mass Unemployment in
Nigeria and from that chapter Professor Ogbimi shares with us six reasons
why there is mass unemployment. Hear him: There are many reasons why
Nigeria and other African nations are experiencing mass unemployment and
the attendant low productivity problems. We may group these causes into the
following categories:
1. Factors related to the backward state of the economy;
2. Poor perception of the relationship between national productivity and level
of self-employment/entrepreneurship;
3. Faulty planning premises (theory) and framework (approach);
4. Inappropriate perception of the nature of unemployment and its relevance
to development;
5. Inappropriate economic philosophy;
the most serious problem frustrating economic
progress in Nigeria is poor perception or
understanding of the problems confronting us
Prof. F. E. Ogbimi
12
THE UNSPOKEN CAUSES
OF MASS UNEMPLOYMENT
BY PROF. F. E OGBIMI
6. Inappropriate development strategies and activities.
1. BACKWARD STATE OF ECONOMY
The Nigerian economy is a primitive one. It is an artisan economy in which the
fundamental production tools remain hoe, axe, cutlass etc., and production
depends on the energy stored in muscles. Total employment in an artisan
economy is usually very small and its ability to absorb highly educated people
has traditionally been low. But as an artisan economy is transformed into an
industrialized one, the production base expands and the manpower
absorptive power increases as well as the total employment. In general, pre-
industrial societies experience mass unemployment and low productivity, but
industrialization solves these problems. Britain experienced mass
unemployment and low productivity for centuries, but these problems
apparently vanished as from late eighteen century when she achieved the rst
modern Industrial Revolution (Trevelyan, 1948).
The Nigerian economy is a primitive one. It is an artisan
economy in which the fundamental production tools remain
hoe, axe, cutlass etc., and production depends on the energy
stored in muscles. Total employment in an artisan economy is
usually very small and its ability to absorb highly educated
people has traditionally been low.
This means that it is a rapid industrialization that must be stimulated to solve
the problem of mass unemployment and low productivity problems
confronting Nigeria and other African nations. Any strategy that is not geared
towards promoting industrialization cannot be a fundamental eort toward
solving unemployment problem.
2. POOR PERCEPTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATIONAL
PRODUCTIVITY/POVERTY AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT /ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The International Labor Organization (ILO) global economic report (2006), said
that global unemployment hit a record high of 192million in year 2005, with
young people making up yearly 50 percent of the jobless. Yet, not the ILO or any
other International organization relates to poverty in Africa to the mass
unemployment and low productivity in the continent. To the ILO- a labor
organization, the parlous state of the global economy in 2005 was the result of
unimplemented budget coupled with extra-budgetary expenses and general
13
THE UNSPOKENCAUSES OF MASS UNEMPLOYMENT - PROF. F. E OGBIMI
lack of scal discipline.
In Africa, where leaders see the unemployed as politically dangerous, it is
better to blame the educational sector for it. If the educational institutions
produce graduate youths (15-25 years old) who can immediately employ
themselves and others, then the politically dangerous people will not be there.
In Nigeria mass unemployment has co-existed with the worsening poverty
situation for decades. Government's solution to the co-existent problems of
mass unemployment and poverty is self-employment; government agencies
have been providing entrepreneurial training for youths so that they can
employ themselves. This explains why the National Directorate of Employment
(NDE) was established in 1986. It is obvious that NDE entrepreneurial activities
have not produced the needed results.
entrepreneurship and self-employment must be reduced
through the encouragement of association and group work to
improve national productivity.
The Obasanjo administration which began in May 1999 had to make it clear
that it has adopted self-employment as a policy. Dr. Hassan Lawal, the Labor
and Productivity Minister, declared that self-employment is the best option for
youths. He made the declaration while opening an Entrepreneurship
Development Programme organized by the NDE for 2004 Batch B members of
the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), in Abuja in September 2004. He said,
I wish to remind you that from now onwards, your future lies in your hands.
To the Minister, there is no need to nd out any relationship between
unemployment and poverty. It is not part of the demands for managing the
economy to understand why mass unemployment and prevalent poverty are
co-existing. How can such government succeed in solving the problems it does
not care to understand.
In line with government thinking that self-employment and entrepreneurship
are the solution to mass unemployment and poverty, government through the
agency supervising universities, the National University Commission (NUC),
has directed that all universities should teach entrepreneurial skills to all
university students so that they can employ themselves on graduating.
The duty of a good academic, however, is to provide the information to guide
national development. This he does, if only he is able to carry out objective and
scientic analysis of the problems of the society with a view to nding out the
true relationships among concepts, things, issues and problems.
14
the claim that self-employment and entrepreneurship are the solution to
mass unemployment and poverty is one important example of the series of
fallacious claims that international organizations and governments in Africa
have sustained to deceive Africans for decades.
The International Labor Organization, ILO (1991), conducted a study on the
relationship between national productivity and the level of self-employment
(LOSE).The study revealed that in the highly productive nations like the United
State and Britain, LOSE was about 9 percent. In the newly Industrializing
Countries like Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia, LOSE was about
25 percent. However, LOSE was about 50 percent in low-productivity and poor
nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The results of the study show that
national productivity is inversely related to LOSE. The observed trend suggests
that LOSE must be reduced in the developing nations to improve national
productivity.
That is, entrepreneurship and self-employment must be reduced through the
encouragement of association and group work to improve national
productivity. What is the explanation for the observed trend? It is simple. Self-
employment and entrepreneurship-based enterprises are atomized or
individualistic work settings. When individuals produce on their own, total
production is lower than when the people of a nation work in large groups.
Large groups enjoy linkage eects or economies scale, using the economists'
'terminology. Individualistic/atomized production like self-employment and
entrepreneurship lead to low total production because they do not enjoy
linkage eect or economies of scale.
Nature's lesson in relation to individual and group work is quite instructive. The
single silk-thread which the spider spins is a relatively weak structural material
which fails under any stress regime. However, the web which the spider makes
by combining many of the weak silk-threads is a potent tool which catches
many small creature in which the spider feed. (Ogbimi, 1999). Again, the single
(individual) spider's thread is weak while the web or group thread is strong.
Adam Smith (1776), also demonstrated that group eort improve productivity
signicantly. He observed that making the straight at-head, sharp-end pin
involves 18 steps. When an individual carried out all the operations, the person
produced 20 pins per-day. However, when 10 people were employed to share
the operations, they produce 48,000 (forty eight thousand)pins per person
per-day. Working in groups and specialization improved productivity
240times.
15
Those who have been sustaining the claim that self-employment and
entrepreneurship are the solutions to mass unemployment and poverty
problems in Nigeria either do not know that they are not solutions, or they
have been trying to deceive ignorant people and frustrate development in the
developing world especially in Africa.
Most economists claim that once capital investment is made,
growth follows and employment is created. This is not true all.
Those who have been sustaining the fallacious claim failed to realize that the
pre-industrialized and the poor nations have too high levels of self-
employment and entrepreneurship. In the artisan/craftsmen agricultural and
poverty-stricken Africa economies, most of the people are either self-
employed or they are entrepreneurs. Most of the people are self-employed
farmers. Smaller proportions are traders or artisan/seamstress, motor
mechanics, vulcanizers, welders, electricians, radio/television repairers etc.
These are self-employed entrepreneurs. Why should anyone not be able to see
that self-employment and entrepreneurship are the cardinal features of the
poverty-stricken nations and regions of the world? Why should anyone not
realize that these cardinal poverty-related features must be replaced with
wealth creating features to improve the quality of life in Africa? Self-
employment and entrepreneurship are no solutions to unemployment and
poverty problems, because self-employment decreases national productivity
and increase poverty.
3. FAULTY PLANNING THEORY AND FRAMEWORK
Okigbo (1989) analyzed the Nigerian planning process 1900-1992 and noted
that the theory that guided the Nigerian First National Plan 1962-68, was the
Harrod (1939) Domar(1946) Model the HDM, and the model remains
Nigeria's planning theory. This model in its simplest form states that the
growth in income is achievable by a nation depends on the rate of savings and
the capital invested. In other words, the more the capital invested, the higher
would be the growth of income in a society. The HDM assumes that labor is not
needed in the production process or that there is only one input in the
production process and that is capital (Glabe 1977).
The classical growth theory of economist as represented by the Cobb-Douglas
(1928) aggregates production function, assumes that labour and capital are
16
the principal factors of production and labour and capital can be substitute for
one another in the production process. The HDM is a degenerated form of the
classical aggregate production function; it (the HDM) assumes that labour is
surplus, hence the limiting factor to improving productivity is capital or that
productivity cannot be improved by increasing labour without increasing
capital input. The HDM also assumes that the capital and labourare perfectly
complementary factors and are combined in xed proportions. How can a
nation planning on the premise that capital is the limiting factor to improving
productivity solve unemployment problem? Impossible!
Most economists claim that once capital investment is made, growth follows
and employment is created. This is not true all. As we shall show later, capital,
capital investment per se, cannot stimulate sustainable economic growth.
Thus, mere growth of capital does not lead to sustainable economic growth.
The UNDP (1997) report showed that Nigeria and some other nations grew
without creating new job opportunities in the period covered by the report.
The report supports our position that mere increase in capital investments
does not automatically lead to sustainable economic growth.
Having attempted with this little space to highlight some of the reasons for
persistent mass unemployment through Prof. Ogbimi's work, the next step
would be to shed light on some of the possible solutions as listed in the rst
part of this series.
17
It is usually elegant to be able to say I chose to do something. With respect to
tackling unemployment, we do not have that luxury. Fate has thrust upon our
shoulders this duty and we would not failwe cannot fail. Also do not think in
your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other
people. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance
will arise from another place, yet who knows whether you have come to the
kingdom (to relevance) for such a time as this? I think it's time to roll up our
sleeves and our trousers and get into the trenches digging up solutions that
are, though politically incorrect but, practically relevant. If we make self-serving
choices today, it must be that we do not mind mortgaging the future of our
children. A few solutions are thus highlighted in this article.
THE NEED TO PURSUE INDUSTRIALIZATION
modern Industrial Revolution (Trevelyan, 1948). This means that it is a rapid
industrialization that must be stimulated to solve the problem of mass
unemployment and low productivity problems confronting Nigeria and other
African nations. Any strategy that is not geared towards promoting
i ndustri al i zati on cannot be a fundamental eort toward sol vi ng
18
THE POLITICALLY
DUMB SOLUTIONS
TO UNEMPLOYMENT
unemployment problem (Prof. F. E. Ogbimi).
INDUSTRIALIZATION EXPLAINED
Industrialization is the process in which a society or country (or world)
transforms itself from a primarily agricultural society into one based on the
manufacturing of goods and services. Individual manual labor is often
replaced by mechanized mass production and craftsmen are replaced by
assembly lines. Characteristics of industrialization include the use of
technological innovation to solve problems as opposed to superstition or
dependency upon conditions outside human control such as the weather, as
well as more ecient division of labor and economic growth(Investopedia). Or
this explanation: industrialization is the period of social and economic change
that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one.
It is a part of a wider modernization process, where social change and
economic development are closely related with technological innovation,
particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy
production. It is the extensive organization of an economy for the purpose of
manufacturing (Wikipedia).
INDUSTRIALISATION OF AND THROUGH POWER, AGRICULTURE AND MINING
The current unemployment rate will literarily be wiped out if we unlocked the
potentials within the Power, Mining and Agriculture industries. For us to do this
at least three major things must be in place: 1) abundance of raw material
inputs; 2) availability of inexpensive labour and 3) political will. Interestingly all
three sectors utilize raw materials from Mother Earth of which Nigeria has an
abundance. With 170million people you can be sure that labour isn't our
challenge. The absence of political will has been the bane of industrialization
and by extension unemployment.
THE NEED TO POWER POWER
At the centre of industrialization . . . at the centre of economic growth . . . at the
centre of massive employment is the Power sector. Permit me to put it like this:
if the GSM industry has changed how we live then the Power sector will change
how we breathe!By this I mean not just the presence of uninterrupted power
but also the optimization of the value chain in such a way as to provide
uninterrupted electricity at value cost and maximum economic benet to
Nigerians. We benet from uninterrupted power inat least two major ways: 1)
Cost savings from generator, petrol and diesel non-usage; and 2)
socioeconomic impact of the presence of uninterrupted light. Industries,
companies, SMEs and homes spend an inordinate amount of their earnings on
19
THE POLITICALLY DUMB SOLUTIONS TO UNEMPLOYMENT
generator purchase and maintenance and petrol/diesel purchase. Money
accruing from these cost savings alone would be sucient to hire more sta,
increase salaries and for research and developmental projects. Many
Nigerians have instead acquired their own generators, creating the world's
highest concentration of small-scale power supply. In fact two-thirds of all
electricity in the country is currently produced in basements or backyards, at a
yearly cost of US$13bn (BMI). Generation of electricity from individual diesel
and petrol generators is estimated at 6,000 MW, approximately twice the
capacity of grid-connected generators. It is estimated that individual
generators cost NGN 50 70/kWh; compared to the regulated price of NGN
8.5/kWh price for grid-supplied power. Nigerians spend between 5 and 10
times as much on self-generated light and power as they do on grid-supplied
electricity (CPCS).
This means that it is a rapid industrialization that must be
stimulated to solve the problem of mass unemployment and
low productivity problems confronting Nigeria and other
African nations.
But the socioeconomic impact of having uninterrupted electricity is the
mother lode. It would lead to a spin-o of Power businesses, more
employment, a lowering of business start-up costs and a general lowering of
business costs as we wouldn't need to buy generators/diesel/petrol. Already
the behemoth Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has given birth to
autonomous companies comprising of the following: a Transmission
Company (TCN), seven Generation Companies (GENCOs) and eleven
Distribution Companies (DISCOs). With all of these, save for the transmission
company, being up for sale. The FGN is selling majority equity stake in the 11
Discos, a 100 percent stake in three thermal Gencos (Afam, Sapele and Ughelli),
a 51 percent stake in the Geregu power plant, and concessioning of two
hydroelectric Gencos (Kainji and Shiroro). The regulator within the power
sector is the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) just like we
have Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the telecoms sector.
While the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) would
be as a special purpose entity to manage the non-core assets and liabilities of
the defunct NEPA (later PHCN) with the aim of transferring only useful assets to
the successor companies and having them begin operations as privatized
entities free of undue liabilities.
20
The privatized entities (GENCOs and DISCOs), the Transmission company and
the regulator, NERC, will also be served by an army of suppliers, service
providers, contractors, IT service providers, real estate agents, travel agents,
branding and advertisement coys, consultants, civil and engineering works,
outsourcing agents, tax compliance and audit, recharge card production and
sales, automobile sales and maintenance, training services, cleaning and pest
control services, banking and treasury services, and a host of others. From all
these would be natural entrepreneurial opportunities for groups and
individuals and a horde of employment opportunities as well. If you ask me, we
should declare a day of fasting and prayer for the Power sector.

AGRICULTURIZATION - COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION AND MAXIMIZATION OF
THE AGRICULTURE VALUE CHAIN
The prayer booth should then move to the agriculture sector. Agriculture is a
historically important industry in Nigeria. Currently, agriculture is the single
largest contributor to both total and non-energy GDP however this gure has
declined in relative importance in recent decades as the oil sector has played
an increasingly important role. Upon independence in 1960 agriculture
accounted for well over half of Nigeria's GDP and according to the Central Bank
in 2009 the sector accounted for nearly 40% of non-energy GDP.
The current unemployment rate will literarily be wiped out if
we unlocked the potentials within the Power, Mining and
Agriculture industries
The climate favours the cultivation of various economic and subsistence crops
such as groundnut, cotton, rubber, cocoa, wheat, millet, maize, oil palm, tea,
cassava, yam and fruits. Livestock includes cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and
sh. The traditional export crops are oil palm, cocoa, rubber, groundnut and
cotton (CPCS).
Three conditions make the agriculture sector a veritable means of
employment and economic growth: we have large expanse of arable land;
clement weather conditions and a huge local and international population to
consume the produce. Following the recent release by the National
Population Commission that Nigeria has over 167 million people to feed daily,
with an expansive landmass covering 923.771 square kilometres, an estimated
arable land mass of about 68 million hectares, abundance of natural forest and
21
rangeland covering 37 million hectares, Nigeria is expected to be the food
basket of sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, Nigeria is blessed with an agriculture
friendly climate, coastal and marine resources of over 960 kilometres of
shoreline, expansive rivers and lakes covering 120,000 square kilometres and
a large consumer market. However, despite her rich natural resource
endowment, there has been a gradual decline in the contribution of the
agriculture sector to the nation's economy (Malachy Agbo, Thisdaylive).
But the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), led by
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina hasset out audacious plans, christened the Agricultural
Transformation Agenda (ATA), which could help us FINALLY unlock the
potentials of this sector. Now this goes beyond the traditional call that
graduates should go back to farming - that would only ensure that those
graduates don't starve and nothing more. Take a look at some of the
aspirations of the Ministry:
Over 3.5 Million jobs within 5 value chain rice, cassava, sorghum, cocoa and
cotton, with many more jobs to come.
Over 300 Billion Naira (US$2 Billion) in additional income in the hands of
Nigerian farmers
Over 350 Billion Naira (US$2.2 Billion) injected into the economy from rice self
suciency
Over 60 Billion Naira (US$380 Million) injected into the economy from
substituting 20% of bread wheat our with cassava our
STRONG AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS CREATE LIVELIHOODS, INCREASE
INCOMES, AND PROMOTE ECONOMIC GROWTH.
To help the Ministry achieve these goals, one of the pillars of the ATA is the
focus on developing agricultural value chains (AVCs). Specically agric value
chains are being pursued in Dairy, Rice, Sorghum, Cassava, Cotton, Cocoa,
Fisheries, Oil Palm, Maize and Poultry.
The idea of value chains, introduced and popularized by Michael Porter
(1985) has received increasing attention in agricultural sectors in recent years
in response to a number of economic factors and consumer trends aecting
agri-food enterprises (Michael Devanney).
22
AVC is a methodology that treats the whole agriculture process as a system,
focusing on harnessing all the linkages for the benet of each component and
the overall benet of the whole the sum being more than the parts. Its six
components are Input Producers, Farmers, Agro-Dealers, Agro-Processors,
Industrial Manufacturers and Trade & Exports. Hitherto each of these
components was treated and managed separately. In essence, through its
various programs within the ATA the Min. of Agriculture hopes to stimulate
economic development and a huge employment drive by creating an enabling
environment for foreign and local agriculture input producers, farmers, agro-
dealers, agro-processors, industrial manufacturers and trade & exports in
dairy, rice, sorghum, cassava, cotton, cocoa, sheries, oil palm, maize and
poultry.
MININGRISATION - UNLOCKING THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE NATURAL
RESOURCES IN VARIOUS STATES
The story is the same with the Mining industry. It holds huge opportunities for
job-ful economic growth if only our leaders would have the nerve to allow our
collective needs to supersede selsh interests. May they be able to say like
Brutus that "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more
(Shakespeare).
23
HOW SCHOOLS
ARE FUNDING
UNEMPLOYMENT
It is usually elegant to be able to say I chose to do something. With respect to
tackling unemployment, we do not have that luxury. Fate has thrust upon our
shoulders this duty and we would not failwe cannot fail. Also do not think in
your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other
people. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance
will arise from another place, yet who knows whether you have come to the
kingdom (to relevance) for such a time as this? I think it's time to roll up our
sleeves and our trousers and get into the trenches digging up solutions that
are, though politically incorrect but, practically relevant. If we make self-serving
choices today, it must be that we do not mind mortgaging the future of our
children. A few solutions are thus highlighted in this article.
THE NEED TO PURSUE INDUSTRIALIZATION
modern Industrial Revolution (Trevelyan, 1948). This means that it is a rapid
industrialization that must be stimulated to solve the problem of mass
unemployment and low productivity problems confronting Nigeria and other
African nations. Any strategy that is not geared towards promoting
i ndustri al i zati on cannot be a fundamental eort toward sol vi ng
24
unemployment problem (Prof. F. E. Ogbimi).
INDUSTRIALIZATION EXPLAINED
Industrialization is the process in which a society or country (or world)
transforms itself from a primarily agricultural society into one based on the
manufacturing of goods and services. Individual manual labor is often
replaced by mechanized mass production and craftsmen are replaced by
assembly lines. Characteristics of industrialization include the use of
technological innovation to solve problems as opposed to superstition or
dependency upon conditions outside human control such as the weather, as
well as more ecient division of labor and economic growth(Investopedia). Or
this explanation: industrialization is the period of social and economic change
that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one.
It is a part of a wider modernization process, where social change and
economic development are closely related with technological innovation,
particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy
production. It is the extensive organization of an economy for the purpose of
manufacturing (Wikipedia).
INDUSTRIALISATION OF AND THROUGH POWER, AGRICULTURE AND MINING
The current unemployment rate will literarily be wiped out if we unlocked the
potentials within the Power, Mining and Agriculture industries. For us to do this
at least three major things must be in place: 1) abundance of raw material
inputs; 2) availability of inexpensive labour and 3) political will. Interestingly all
three sectors utilize raw materials from Mother Earth of which Nigeria has an
abundance. With 170million people you can be sure that labour isn't our
challenge. The absence of political will has been the bane of industrialization
and by extension unemployment.
THE NEED TO POWER POWER
At the centre of industrialization . . . at the centre of economic growth . . . at the
centre of massive employment is the Power sector. Permit me to put it like this:
if the GSM industry has changed how we live then the Power sector will change
how we breathe! By this I mean not just the presence of uninterrupted power
but also the optimization of the value chain in such a way as to provide
uninterrupted electricity at value cost and maximum economic benet to
Nigerians. We benet from uninterrupted power in at least two major ways: 1)
Cost savings from generator, petrol and diesel non-usage; and 2)
socioeconomic impact of the presence of uninterrupted light. Industries,
companies, SMEs and homes spend an inordinate amount of their earnings on
25
HOW SCHOOLS ARE FUNDING UNEMPLOYMENT
generator purchase and maintenance and petrol/diesel purchase. Money
accruing from these cost savings alone would be sucient to hire more sta,
increase salaries and for research and developmental projects. Many
Nigerians have instead acquired their own generators, creating the world's
highest concentration of small-scale power supply. In fact two-thirds of all
electricity in the country is currently produced in basements or backyards, at a
yearly cost of US$13bn (BMI). Generation of electricity from individual diesel
and petrol generators is estimated at 6,000 MW, approximately twice the
capacity of grid-connected generators. It is estimated that individual
generators cost NGN 50 70/kWh; compared to the regulated price of NGN
8.5/kWh price for grid-supplied power. Nigerians spend between 5 and 10
times as much on self-generated light and power as they do on grid-supplied
electricity (CPCS).
But the socioeconomic impact of having uninterrupted electricity is the
mother lode. It would lead to a spin-o of Power businesses, more
employment, a lowering of business start-up costs and a general lowering of
business costs as we wouldn't need to buy generators/diesel/petrol. Already
the behemothPower Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has given birth to
autonomous companies comprising of the following:a Transmission Company
(TCN), seven Generation Companies (GENCOs) and eleven Distribution
Companies (DISCOs).With all of these, save for the transmission company,
being up for sale. The FGN is selling majority equity stake in the 11 Discos, a 100
percent stake in three thermal Gencos (Afam, Sapele and Ughelli), a 51 percent
stake in the Geregu power plant, and concessioning of two hydroelectric
Gencos (Kainji and Shiroro). The regulator within the power sector is the
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) just like we have Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) for the telecoms sector. While the Nigeria
Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) would be as a special
purpose entity to manage the non-core assets and liabilities of the defunct
NEPA (later PHCN) with the aim of transferring only useful assets to the
successor companies and having them begin operations as privatized entities
free of undue liabilities.
The privatized entities (GENCOs and DISCOs), the Transmission company and
the regulator, NERC,will also be served by an army of suppliers, service
providers, contractors, IT service providers, real estate agents, travel agents,
branding and advertisement coys, consultants, civil and engineering works,
outsourcing agents, tax compliance and audit, recharge card production and
sales, automobile sales and maintenance, training services, cleaning and pest
26
control services, banking and treasury services, and a host of others. From all
these would be natural entrepreneurial opportunities for groups and
individuals and a horde of employment opportunities as well. If you ask me, we
should declare a day of fasting and prayer for the Power sector.

AGRICULTURIZATION - COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION AND MAXIMIZATION OF
THE AGRICULTURE VALUE CHAIN
The prayer booth should then move to the agriculture sector. Agriculture is a
historically important industry in Nigeria. Currently, agriculture is the single
largest contributor to both total and non-energy GDP however this gure has
declined in relative importance in recent decades as the oil sector has played
an increasingly important role. Upon independence in 1960 agriculture
accounted for well over half of Nigeria's GDP and according to the Central Bank
in 2009 the sector accounted for nearly 40% of non-energy GDP. The climate
favours the cultivation of various economic and subsistence crops such as
groundnut, cotton, rubber, cocoa, wheat, millet, maize, oil palm, tea, cassava,
yam and fruits. Livestock includes cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and sh. The
traditional export crops are oil palm, cocoa, rubber, groundnut and cotton
(CPCS).
Three conditions make the agriculture sector a veritable means of
employment and economic growth: we have large expanse of arable land;
clement weather conditions and a huge local and international population to
consume the produce. Following the recent release by the National
Population Commission that Nigeria has over 167 million people to feed daily,
with an expansive landmass covering 923.771 square kilometres, an estimated
arable land mass of about 68 million hectares, abundance of natural forest and
rangeland covering 37 million hectares, Nigeria is expected to be the food
basket of sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, Nigeria is blessed with an agriculture
friendly climate, coastal and marine resources of over 960 kilometres of
shoreline, expansive rivers and lakes covering 120,000 square kilometres and
a large consumer market. However, despite her rich natural resource
endowment, there has been a gradual decline in the contribution of the
agriculture sector to the nation's economy (Malachy Agbo, Thisdaylive).
But the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), led by
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina hasset out audacious plans, christened the Agricultural
Transformation Agenda (ATA), which could help us FINALLY unlock the
potentials of this sector. Now this goes beyond the traditional call that
graduates should go back to farming - that would only ensure that those
27
graduates don't starve and nothing more. Take a look at some of the
aspirations of the Ministry:
Over 3.5 Million jobs within 5 value chain rice, cassava, sorghum, cocoa and
cotton, with many more jobs to come.
Over 300 Billion Naira (US$2 Billion) in additional income in the hands of
Nigerian farmers
Over 350 Billion Naira (US$2.2 Billion) injected into the economy from rice self
suciency
Over 60 Billion Naira (US$380 Million) injected into the economy from
substituting 20% of bread wheat our with cassava our
STRONG AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS CREATE LIVELIHOODS, INCREASE
INCOMES, AND PROMOTE ECONOMIC GROWTH.
To help the Ministry achieve these goals, one of the pillars of the ATA is the
focus on developing agricultural value chains (AVCs). Specically agric value
chains are being pursued in Dairy, Rice, Sorghum, Cassava, Cotton, Cocoa,
Fisheries, Oil Palm, Maize and Poultry.The idea of value chains, introduced
and popularized by Michael Porter (1985) has received increasing attention in
agricultural sectors in recent years in response to a number of economic
factors and consumer trends aecting agri-food enterprises (Michael
Devanney). AVC is a methodology that treats the whole agriculture process as a
system, focusing on harnessing all the linkages for the benet of each
component and the overall benet of the whole the sum being more than the
parts. Its six components are Input Producers, Farmers, Agro-Dealers, Agro-
Processors, Industrial Manufacturers and Trade & Exports. Hitherto each of
these components was treated and managed separately. In essence, through
its various programs within the ATA the Min. of Agriculture hopes to stimulate
economic development and a huge employment drive by creating an enabling
environment for foreign and local agriculture input producers, farmers, agro-
dealers, agro-processors, industrial manufacturers and trade & exports in
dairy, rice, sorghum, cassava, cotton, cocoa, sheries, oil palm, maize and
poultry.
Miningrisation - unlocking the economic value of the natural
resources in various states
The story is the same with the Mining industry. It holds huge
opportunities for job-ful economic growth if only our leaders
would have the nerve to allow our collective needs to
28
supersede selsh interests. May they be able to say like Brutus
that "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more
(Shakespeare).
29
HOW SCHOOLS
CAN STIMULATE
PRODUCTIVITY
AND EMPLOYMENT
Dear compatriots,
It has become necessary for me to address you on the need to force/create an
alignment between our education system, our curriculum, our curriculum
handlers (teachers/lecturers) and the realities of our day and the opportunities
of tomorrow. Given the spate of activities and challenges in our country, we are
in urgent need of a school system that prepares our youth to solve today's
challenges and to create tomorrow's opportunities. In my last article the abject
dissonance between our current curriculum and the realities of our world was
graphically depicted. I made the point that what we need is a school system
that breeds young people with the ATTITUDES and COMPETENCIES for
questioning and creating solutions. We need creators and questioners.
Creators and questioners are intellectual dissidents. Questioners question
every fact. They ask the golden question, Why? Questioning is the beginning
of inventions. Creators on their part seek to birth new possibilities. They seek
to create out of their imaginations and not out of their realities; creating new
business ideas, new business models, new solutions to social ills, new life-
enhancing drugs, etc. Today I deploy a troop of solutions that would help us
create a school system that stimulates productivity and employment.
BASELINE REQUIREMENTS (THE NON-NEGOTIABLES)
Specically, if our tertiary education would help our country to arrive in the
future then there are some non-negotiable courses or programmes that must
be embedded into it. Extensive use of technology and actual teaching by
teachers can easily shave o one year from our current academic programmes
and more productive use can be made of such time. So what are the baseline
requirements of any 21st century tertiary education? 1) It must make our
youngsters advanced users of existing productivity tools. 2) It must imbue
eective communication skills. 3) It must impart sales and marketing
30
competencies upon our tertiary students. 4) It must also inculcate the
attitudes and skills for problem solving, opportunity conversion and
enterprise development. 5) Add a few others to the mix and upon this rock
additional content, specic to each course, can then be laid. Let's drill deeper.
MAKE THEM ADVANCED USERS OF EXISTING PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
The 21st century is about productivity achieving much in less time with less
resource. Some of the chief productivity tools/skills are the use of Microsoft
Oce Suite; Maximizing the Internet; Planning and Goal-Setting skills; Time
management; Financial literacy and Personal Financial planning; etc. By the
end of 100level all students should have become intermediate users of
Microsoft Oce suite (MS Oce). A person with increasing prociency moves
from beginner to intermediate then becomes an advanced user and
eventually referred to as expert.
So what are the baseline requirements of any 21st century
tertiary education? 1) It must make our youngsters advanced
users of existing productivity tools. 2) It must imbue eective
communication skills. 3) It must impart sales and marketing
competencies upon our tertiary students. 4) It must also
inculcate the attitudes and skills for problem solving,
opportunity conversion and enterprise development.
Our students should have concluded computer appreciation in secondary
school. With this kind of focus by the time they get to 300L they would have
become advanced users of MS Oce. The implication is that before students
leave university/polytechnic they would have been accustomed to solving
problems using MS Oce. They may even have drawn up models and
programmes to solve some seemingly intractable problems. I was in a private
university the other day only to be told that a student was the one who
designed the e-voting mechanism being used for student union elections.
NATE SILVER AND MICROSOFT EXCEL
Have you heard of a gentleman called Nate Silver? Or heard about his baseball
prediction programme called PECOTA or his book, The Signal and The Noise:
The art and science of prediction. Excerpts from the book: The one
advantage was that I had a lot of extra time on my hand. So in my empty hours, I
started building a colourful spreadsheet (MS Excel) full of baseball statistics
31
HOW SCHOOLS CAN STIMULATE PRODUCTIVITY AND EMPLOYMENT
that would later become the basis for PECOTA.PECOTA is the model he
developed to predict and rank baseball players as well as how their clubs
would perform in the season. It was hailed for its precision and predictive
power, and was promptly acquired by a bigger rival company that lured him
away from KPMG making him a co-owner of the business. And slowly, over the
course of those long days at KPMG in 2002, PECOTA began to develop. It took
the form of a giant, colourful Excel spreadsheet fortuitously so, since Excel
was one of the main tools that I used in my day job at KPMG. (Every time one of
my bosses walked by, they assumed I was diligently working on a highly
elaborate model for one of our clients). Eventually, by stealing an hour or two
at a time during slow periods during the workday, and a few more while at
home at night, I developed a database consisting of more than 10,000 player-
seasons (every major- league season since World War II was waged.)
NEED FOR ADVANCED USE OF THE INTERNET
Just imagine the amount of productivity we would get from our students
leaving school with at least advanced level prociency on the use of the
internet. This skill will be useful to the student of Botany as well as the student
of Business Administration. It would be useful to the one planning to be an
academic, or an entrepreneur or even a careerpreneur. Students will start
businesses naturally. They would communicate with people in other worlds
naturally.
I was in a private university the other day only to be told that a
student was the one who designed the e-voting mechanism
being used for student union elections.
They would source for internships, jobs, business opportunities naturally. Let
me back track a little and explain something. This 21st century-maximisation
curriculum achieves value on two fronts. It equips the STUDENT to provide
solutions to herself, her school community and her world WHILE still in school.
And it also equips the GRADUATE such that he/she immediately becomes a
productive member of society right after school one who is creating
enterprises or adding immediate value to existing organisations as an
employee. That is why we have added Planning and Goal-Setting skills; Time
management; Financial literacy and Personal Financial planning; etc. These are
the very skills and attitudes that have dierentiated great nations and
individuals from others.
32
IMBUE THEM WITH EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS.
In my opinion, in no other generation has the ability to communicate
eectively been more important than now. It is such a mistake to exclude this
from the curriculum or to include it lightly. Oral and written communication
would enhance the life of the student and that of the graduate. While in school,
this skill can be used to propagate ideas and enlist support for initiatives and
after school the workplace and the marketplace would certainly nd this skill
valuable. Organisations are represented by individuals. Services are provided
by individuals (until the day of robots). How a service is perceived and even how
an organisation is perceived are both intricately woven into how the service
provider is perceived. No one would patronize a well-furnished eatery that has
servers who look dirty, unkempt with body odour. Would you? The ability to
communicate aects the way people are perceived. The ability to
communicate impairs ones capacity to deliver premium results. Imagine what
our campuses would look like if we had students who were adept at
communication? If nothing it would increase the quality of ideas that are
getting out. It would increase the quality of discussions and debates that we
are having. And what about after school?The ability to communicate is one of
the most common criteria used by employers to select people into their
organisations. The ability to communicate is even what is stalling the
promotion of some people within their organisation. Enough said.
IMPART SALES AND MARKETING COMPETENCIES UPON THEM
There are a hundred and one options of almost every item or service. Growing
up, I recall that if you didn't like Macleans then you are stuck with Close-upno
other options. It was either Corn akes or Corn akes, then later Rice Crispies
and much later Golden Morn. Now, even Corn akes have various types based
on manufacturer, and country of origin. Let's not even go into the possible
number of variants of cereals that are now available. Today is the day of
options. The implication is that the ability to sell and market so that people can
notice and patronize you above the competition is of life-saving importance.
How do you get noticed in a crowded world if you aren't schooled in the art and
science of sales and marketing? A database administrator (DBA) who knows
about sales and marketing is better than one who isn't. Secondly, in the career
chain of a database administrator there are dierent requirements at dierent
phases. There is the database administrator who is a consultant or freelance
agent, there is the one who is a business owner and these are dierent from
the DBA who is an employee somewhere. At each phase the job expectations
and thus skills requirements are dierent. At one time in your career or the
other, even if not at this very moment, your ability to sell or market would be
33
the limiter or the leverage. In addition there are very few skills that are critical to
all industries as Sales and Marketing. A deep training in Sales and Marketing,
delivered through 100L to nal year prepares people to have distinguished
lives as entrepreneurs and dierentiated employees.
INCULCATE PROBLEM SOLVING, OPPORTUNITY CONVERSION AND ENTERPRISE
DEVELOPMENT
The world we live in now doesn't owe anybody anything. Sorry. In this world it is
largely about how many problems you can solve or how much value you can
add to people's lives. Very simple. This is a cardinal truth that needs to serve as
a curriculum on its own. And interestingly, developing countries have a milieu
of developmental opportunities (I don't want to call them problems)on whose
back anyone providing solutions can ride into success. Right from the rst year
in school, we have to task our students to seek a connection between what
they are studying and the needs and yearnings of their world. Today we have a
comedy industry because people have needs for entertainment and laughter.
Through this course, right from 100L, students are taught the dierent models
for problem solving, opportunity conversion and enterprise development.
They are made aware of the dierent challenges within the human race, within
Africa, within Nigeria, within the state where the school is located and even
within their campus. These problems and opportunity areas are discussed and
debated in great detail. Probable solutions are also discussed and debated in
great detail. Groups of students in each department and even across
departments are tasked to come up with solutions. Enterprise development
(sometimes called entrepreneurship) therefore is seen as a problem solving
and a value-adding endeavour and not just about being your own boss or
about trading.
INITIATE THEM INTO ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
In addition teaching enterprise development (the study of business or
organisation creation, growth and sustainability), from 100L is one of the best
things that can happen to any individual in his/her entire life. We are all going to
be part of many enterprises all through our lifetime. In fact human activities
are usually achieved through enterprises. Such as schools, NGOs, businesses,
religious organisations, cooperatives, you name it. Since all initiatives would
eventually be dispensed through organisations then it is a huge waste of
human potential not to equip our students ahead. Imagine what could happen
amongst students when enterprise development based on problem solving
and opportunity conversion is taught in our campuses? Students would come
together to start enterprises aimed at solving problems and adding value to
34
lives and institutions. And some of these enterprises would continue after
graduation and where they don't, the participants would leave with emotional,
intellectual and spiritual capacity to join or birth other enterprises.
Need for a New School System?
This discussion about how schools can stimulate productivity and
employment obviously isn't conclusive. The attempt is to provoke critical-non-
political-future-focusedsolutions to a foundational cause of youth
unproductivity and disenfranchisement. There are things i left unsaid. For
example it didn't mention specically what should be excluded from the
present curriculum. Neither did we discuss the type of development or
selection process for lecturers. We also didn't discuss the overall design of the
school system, sticking only to curriculum design. Helpfully, Prof Ogbimi in his
book, Solutions to Mass Unemployment recommends that instead of 6-3-3-4
education system we should have SSS-2-U-4. graduates of the Senior
Secondary School (SSS) would spend 2 (two) years to acquire practical skills
before proceeding to the university; the SSS graduate should no more be
rushing into universities as immature and unskilled people. This covers the
'SSS-2' portion of the code. On graduating from the university, having
completed a 4-year programme, he or she should also undergo a 4-year
practical skills training scheme. If he completes a 5-year engineering degree,
his practical training should also last 5 years. This portion explains the 'U-4'
portion of the new framework. The establishment of this practical skills-
acquiring framework will link education and production directly in Nigeria. The
setting up of the practical skills framework would solve mass unemployment
and low productivity problems speedily and stimulate rapid industrialization in
Nigeria. Very insightful recommendation from Prof Ogbimi.
CONCLUSION
I am convinced that with intellectual contributions from all quarters (this
problem is beyond the Ministry of Education or Labour and Productivity), we
shall overcome the problem of unemployment and unproductivity of youths
and together, we will restore every part of our country to the path of peace,
growth and development. We have to win this war against the destiny of our
children, against the destiny of our motherland. Thank you.
35
UNEMPLOYMENT -
INVOLVING THE
UNINVOLVED
The Irishman, the late Edmund Burke is right again. He said, Nobody made a
greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. He
also said, The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing [or do little]. Starting in January, we strenuously canvassed for the
enactment of a state of emergency on unemployment. Knowing that dealing a
decisive blow on unemployment would require more than political
announcements and setting up of committees, we went ahead/decided to
underscore some of the solution areas. To end this six-part raid on
unemployment, I would like to end where I started the call that everyone can
and must do something. This Hurricane Unemployment requires that we all
pitch in our 'widow's mite' and that we start now.
EVERYONE MUST DO SOMETHING
In the rst part of this treatise, published in January, we said, As we set out in
this New Year, we need to get our national, corporate and individual
imperatives right, and the rst breakthrough solution is the national resolve
that 'Everyone Must Do Something'. For all that is necessary for the triumph of
evil is that good men do nothing [or do little]. The days of expecting
governments to solve ALL problems are long gone. There is a part the
government should and must play and there is a part YOU can play. All
institutions (educational, religious, for-prot, non-prot) must bring their
twelve loaves and ve shes. The days are gone when lecturers would fold
their hands expecting government, or university administration or even the
Ministry of Education to come sweep away the 'problems with these youths'.
The days are also gone (or should be gone) when the universities/polytechnics
would keep students for 4-5 years and HOPE that they turn out well after they
have been 'thrown' into the labour market. Corporate organisations must also
come up with ideas-driven social solutions and contributions beyond just
complaining about the quality of our graduates and refurbishing school
I wondered why somebody didn't do something.
Then I realized, I am somebody
- Author Unknown
36
buildings and furniture. Sending ONLY your kids overseas isn't doing
something. Today's graduates are unemployable. That refrain won't win a
Nobel Prize. The question is this, what are you going to do about it? Various
professionals in dierent elds (human resources, economics, science &
technology, planning, etc.) must contribute their quota. Apathy, supercial or
patronizing contributions may actually be more detrimental than good. That
you and I are in this part of the world, at a time like this, places a responsibility
on us.
So what are the baseline requirements of any 21st century
tertiary education? 1) It must make our youngsters advanced
users of existing productivity tools. 2) It must imbue eective
communication skills. 3) It must impart sales and marketing
competencies upon our tertiary students. 4) It must also
inculcate the attitudes and skills for problem solving,
opportunity conversion and enterprise development.
INVOLVING THE UNINVOLVED
Thus, this concluding piece will focus on the various groups and persons who
need to throw more of their weight behind this war against unemployment,
thereby heeding the refrain from Martin Niemoller, First they came for the
Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the
Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then
they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a
trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out
for me.For sure nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.
The question is this, What are you doing with what is in your hand? Or do you
play the ute while Rome burns?
PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS CAN DO SOMETHING
Obviously we urgently need heavyweight support from Corporate Nigeria. It is
true that a few companies are doing a little but most can do a lot more. We have
gotten bread crumbs but the situation requires we literally open bakeries. The
world has come full circle to the realisation that pure capitalism isn't
sustainable (ask the American government). So the idea that organisations
exist for the sole good of their shareholders is so 1920 and clearly misses the
learnings gained from both the positive and negative disruptive happenings of
the last 2 decades. Organisations and their stakeholder communities exist for
37
UNEMPLOYMENT - INVOLVING THE UNINVOLVED
mutual benet. We need support/sponsorship that sparks o entrepreneurial
curiosity.
Readiness = Preparedness + Inclination + Speediness +
Skillfulness.
We need some funds to be set aside by banks for low interest micro-lending. Or
funds set aside as venture capital or angel investing. This funding can work in
so many ways as it allows for entry at dierent levels. For example, we can start
an entrepreneurial competition in one or more tertiary institution/s. We could
also localize it to specic sectors such as agriculture. The Federal Government
has already started something in this regard, with the YouWin programme.
YouWiN! stands for Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria. It is an
innovative business plan competition aimed at job creation by encouraging
and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youth in Nigeria to develop and
execute business ideas. But we need more of such or similar interventions
sponsored by the private sector.
PROMOTE ACADEMIC AND INTELLECTUAL EXCELLENCE
Another area where private sector organisations and individuals should throw
their weight around is academic and intellectual excellence. The 21st century is
the century of the mind. A lot of wealth and possibilities lies locked within our
youngsters. It is okay to sponsor music, dance, football etc. but the source of
leverage is academic and intellectual excellence, as this is what would help us
transit from being an agrarian society to an industrialized nation. A major
subset of this is Science and Technology. Science and technology is the
lever for industrial development and as such we need support to
promote study, research and prototype development.
Again, this doesn't have to be expensive and it also has various entry points.
Can someone please help to sponsor wi hotspots on our campuses? This
would allow real-time internet access to both students and lecturers. Can
someone please sponsor the review of our tertiary curriculum to determine its
alignment with the 21st century, thereby leading to a research driven
understanding of the shortcomings of the present school design. Could
someone assist to sponsor workplace readiness programmes aimed at getting
graduates ready to enter and excel in the 21st century workplace? Can
someone or a group of people setup a well-stocked library within their local
38
government?
CARSON SCHOLARS FUND
Let me give you an example of what one family is doing in America. It's called
Carson Scholars Fund. Go ahead and Google it. The Carson Scholars Fund, Inc.
was founded in 1994 to address the education crisis in the United States. When
world-renowned Johns Hopkins Pediatric Neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson,
M.D. and his wife, Candy, read a research study about education in the United
States, they were alarmed by the ndings. The study showed that American
students ranked 21 out of 22 countries; next to the bottom of the list in science
and math. Furthermore, the Carsons observed that many school display cases
were lled with large trophies paying tribute to their sports teams'
achievements, while honor students only received a pin or certicate. Dr. and
Mrs. Carson felt compelled to take action. They believed that if children could
be taught early to excel, they would stay motivated and have a higher chance of
educational success later in life.
I was in a private university the other day only to be told that a
student was the one who designed the e-voting mechanism
being used for student union elections.
The Carson Scholars Fund was built on these principles. Carson Scholarships
are awarded to students in grades 4-11 who exemplify academic excellence
and humanitarian qualities. Winners receive a $1,000 scholarship to be
invested toward their college education, along with a recognition package, and
an invitation to attend an awards banquet. Carson Scholars become role
models and leaders at their schools. In his autobiography Gifted Hands, Dr.
Carson wrote about how his life was changed once he embraced reading. So as
the Carson Scholars Fund grew, the Carsons established a second program
The Ben Carson Reading Project. This initiative, which started in 2000, provides
funding and support to schools to build and maintain Ben Carson Reading
Rooms warm, inviting rooms where kids can escape into the world of books.
Each room is colorfully decorated and promotes Dr. Carson's Think Big
philosophy. In total, they have awarded over 5,200 scholarships and over 85
Reading Rooms have been established in schools across the United States.
Guess what? The Carson's aren't even on the list of the richest people in the
world!
39
SYNERGISTIC SCHOOL COMMUNITIES
The tertiary school community is made up of students, lecturers, school
administration and non-lecturers. Quelling this unemployment hurricane
requires that we all work together as a team. The old formula of being at
daggers drawn hasn't worked. We need to pro-actively involve each
constituent in the running of school aairs. Ideas need to be polled from all
quarters.
Even though I am not sure of how exactly this should work but I know that a
situation where ASUU leaves the school administration to only the VC and his
team is old school. A them against us situation pitches us against ourselves
thereby giving Hurricane Unemployment unfettered access to destroy our
peace and progress. Because the school administration isn't getting as much
money as it needs to run the school, a lot of schools have resorted to setting up
micro enterprises/industries as a means to raise additional funds.
Ask any business manager and he would tell you that one of
the things that dierentiates one employee from another is
the ability to seek and maximize opportunities without regard
to resources currently controlled or currently not-controlled.
So the ability to seek and extract value from any situation is the
foundation for success both in business and as an employee.
That is laudable, though largely below its potential promise. But imagine a
situation where these enterprises were jointly managed by lecturers and
students? With the school administration, lecturers and students as joint
owners under a private shares scheme? With students as the workers, thus
making it a source of revenue and an entrepreneurial learning opportunity. So
imagine a bakery, a pure water factory, a farm, a transport system, even hostels
etc jointly owned and managed by school administration, lecturers and
students?
LEVERAGING ON GROUPS
A lot of potential lies within existing groups which can be exploited in this war
against unemployment. For example, religious groups need to mobilize their
resources to assist members by providing enlightenment, and support
structures towards increasing employability or entrepreneurial development.
Old student associations can also pool their resources together to help alma
40
maters as well. Organisations within the same sector should also come
together to tackle one or two huge projects against youth unemployment.
Imagine if all the big Telcos (MTN, Airtel, Glo and Etisalat) came together to
sponsor an anti-unemployment project? You just imagine the amount of
millions of dollars of cash and expertise that could be thrown into it?
PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AGAINST UNEMPLOYMENT
No one can solve the unemployment problem alone. We feel the Federal Govt
is better equipped to do this BUT that is yet to happen. Should we then fold our
hands until millions of people and dreams die? Never! That which you can pitch
in, pitch in. However there is strength in unity. I propose for more public private
partnerships (PPP) against unemployment. PPP is a business relationship
between a private-sector company and a government agency for the purpose
of completing a project that will serve the public. Public-private partnerships
can be used to nance, build and operate projects such as public
transportation networks, parks and convention centers. Financing a project
through a public-private partnership can allow a project to be completed
sooner or make it a possibility in the rst place(investopedia.com). What stops
us from having collaborations between the Federal Government, State
Governments and the Private sector? A lot of eort is being expended against
unemployment but it is happening in silos. Wouldn't we gain much more if we
harnessed and pooled our resources?
DONATE TIME, RESOURCES AND EXPERTISE
Professionals and business people should look out for ways they can
contribute. Sponsor your wards and children in the neighbourhood to self-
development seminars. Buy books for kids on the street. Start a small venture
capital fund with friends with the intent to sponsor some of the best business
ideas you hear you would be surprised at what one hundred thousand naira
can do for some. Consulting and auditing rms should come together to
conduct free business clinics for existing SMEs. Do not let what you cannot do
interfere with what you can do John Wooden. If you have time to whine and
complain about something then you have the time to do something about it
Anthony J. D'Angelo. Finally I leave us with this Arabian proverb, If you have
much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.
41
RAISE WORKPLACE
& ENTERPRISE
READINESS INDEX
BUT WHAT IS READINESS?
When you unpack the word 'readiness' you get a number of meanings that
provide dierent hues of meanings that help to accurately paint a more
complete picture. A simple equation could look like this:
Readiness = Preparedness + Inclination + Speediness + Skillfulness. Let me
illustrate with the Jewish story of David and Goliath. David, a teenage boy
assigned to tend his daddy's sheep, was asked to take some food to his elder
brothers in the military army of Israel right on the battleground where a giant
from the opposing army had been throwing them a challenge, every day for 40
days. The giant challenged the Israel army that if they could nd one man who
could defeat him, his entire army would surrender to Israel. They found no one
to take up the gauntlet. . . until the boy David got there.
Readiness = Preparedness + Inclination + Speediness +
Skillfulness.
THE READINESS OF THE BOY DAVID
David exhibited a readiness or inclination when he heard the man's threat for
he immediately asked the soldiers for the nature of the reward to be given to
the person who was able to defeat the giant. When they queried his giant-
ghting competence, he expressed his readiness or preparedness by
explaining to them how he killed a bear and then a lion that attacked his
daddy's sheep some time before. We could see readiness again or call it
speediness when David chose to run at Goliath, for in the account it is said that
David hurried and ran toward the army to meet Goliath. Lastly the boy,
exhibited high readiness index or skillfulness when he told the Israeli King that
he would rather use weapons he had tested (stones and a sling) instead of
bearing military weapons which he was unfamiliar with. David, though a
teenager, had a high readiness index a lot had prepared and skilled him thus
42
43
giving him a natural inclination to seize an opportunity speedily.
WORKPLACE & ENTERPRISE READINESS INDEX OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN NIGERIA
IS LOW
In general the Workplace & Enterprise Readiness Index of young people in our
country, graduates and non-graduates, is low. Abysmally low. Anyone intent on
doing something about job creation or unemployment should in addition to
other initiatives work at raising this index. Now the fact that it is low isn't a new
submission, the issue is with the kind of attention or non-attention that it is
getting. Certainly one of the things we should do is to provide funds and an
enabling environment for business creation and another major thing to do is
to untie and release the Power sector. Analysts have posited that the business
generation, cost-saving potentials and employment capacity of the Power
sector would make the gains of the GSM industry seem like child's play. Also
deploying initiatives to raise the readiness index would not only help with
solving the job creation/unemployment quicksand but would grant
sustainability to all the other industry and enterprise stimulation activities.
GOING BEYOND EMPLOYABILITY
Workplace & Enterprise Readiness includes but extends beyond the limited
view a lot of people have towards employability. Follow this excerpt from the
book, Getting a Job is a Job: A No-Nonsense Practical Guide to Getting Your
Desired Job, by Aruosa Osemwegie:
Employability refers to a person's capability of gaining initial employment,
maintaining employment, and obtaining new employment if required (Hillage
and Pollard, 1998). In simple terms, employability is about being capable of
getting and keeping fullling work. More comprehensively,employability is the
capability to move self-suciently withinthe labour market to realise potential
through sustainableemployment. For individuals, employability depends on
theknowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA's) they possess, the waythey use those
assets and present them to employers, and thecontext (e.g. personal
circumstances and labour marketenvironment) within which they seek
work.Employability is a two-sided equation and manyindividuals need various
forms of support to overcomethe physical and mental barriers to learning
anddevelopment (i.e updating their assets). Employability isnot just about
vocational and academic skills. Individualsneed relevant and usable labour
market information tohelp them make informed decisions about the
labourmarket options available to them. They may also needsupport to realise
RAISE WORKPLACE & ENTERPRISE READINESS INDEX
when such information would be useful,and to interpret that information and
turn it intointelligence. Finally, people also need the opportunities todo things
dierently, to access relevant training and, mostcrucially, employment.
The balance of importance between and within each element will vary for
groups of individuals, depending on work and the ability to be employed; i.e.
the ability to gain initial employment; hence the interest in ensuring that 'key
skills', careers advice and an understanding about the world of work are
embedded in the education system [unfortunately this isn't so],
the ability to maintain employment and make 'transitions' between jobs and
roles within the same organisation to meet new job requirements, and
the ability to obtain new employment if required, i.e. to be independent in the
labour market by being willing and able to manage their own employment
transitions between and within organisations.
Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard
to resources currently controlled by Prof. Howard Stevenson
of the Harvard Business School.
It is also, ideally about the quality of such work or employment. People may be
able to obtain work but it may be below their level of skill, or in low paid,
undesirable or unsustainable jobs, and so forth.
WORKPLACE & ENTERPRISE READINESS IS?
Thus Workplace & Enterprise Readiness is about; 1) Employability, 2) Job
search mastery, 3) Self-leadership and marketing, 4) Self-learning and 5)
Opportunity seeking and conversion. Employability development is about
gaining 'employability assets' which comprise of KNOWLEDGE (i.e. what they
know), SKILLS (what they do with what they know) and ATTITUDES (how they do
it).These assets can be categorized into these three:'Baseline assets' such as
basic skills and essential personal attributes (such as reliability and integrity);
'Intermediate assets' such as occupational specic skills (at all levels), generic
or key skills (such as communication and problem solving) and key personal
attributes (such as motivation and initiative), and; 'High level assets' involving
skills which help contribute to organisational performance (such as team
working, self-management, commercial awareness etc.) (ref. Getting a Job is a
Job). Gaining employability assets actually starts with a lot of people needing to
polish and improve their language of communication. Communication is the
skill of the 21st century and thus the medium of verbal communication (in our
case English language) is the most important tool and this has nothing to do
44
with whether you are a graduate or not.
GAIN JOB SEARCH MASTERY
Secondly, to raise our readiness index would require that graduatesgain Job
Search mastery. Has it occurred to you that regardless of your grade from
school, and regardless of all other factors in fact, if you are looking to get hired
by any serious employer, you would need to pass through the Recruitment
Funnel? What is this Recruitment Funnel? It is the selection or screening
process organisations use to determine who gets employed into their
organisations. Therefore having Job Search KSA (knowledge, skills and
attitude)which helpsto scale successfully through the Recruitment Funnel is
ESSENTIAL. In my years of experience in human resources I have seen
potentially bright but ill-prepared (ill-ready, if you like) candidates screened o
by this funnel. Their inclination was misdirected and their default response
very slow.
I have seen the person who assumed that it wasn't necessary to come dressed
in a tie; I have seen the one who thought a khaki trouser would do just ne in a
bank interview; I have seen the one who didn't bother to tuck his shirt in
(honestly); I have seen the one who thought showing o some esh would help
her case; I have seen the one who must have wondered if they weren't aware
that she had a rst class; I have seen the one who came innocently in the tailor-
made clothes which was what she had; I have seen the one who thought that
having a rst class didn't require much preparation; then there was the one
who thought that knowing 'someone' covers up for everything; I have seen the
one whose CV had a small oil smear; I have seen the one who didn't bother to
research the company before coming for the interview; I have seen the one
who begged for the job when asked do you have any question; I have seen the
one who missed the invitation to the aptitude test because he hadn't checked
his email in a while etc.
Job Search mastery clearly involves gathering usable knowledge or
information about going-ons within the corporate world; happenings in the
intersection of business and politics; growing socioeconomic trends; industry-
specic information; profession-specic information; company-specic
information etc. Skills to be amassed here include that of crafting great
resumes, cover lettersand proposals; winning at interviews; dress sense and
etiquette etc. I have had to politely tell people at dierent times that they
needed to use deodorant regularly. More so if you are a guy and you live in our
part of the world where it is typically sunny most part of the day all-year round.
45
I ran into a young man the other day who said he acquired his rst suit as a
result of listening to me speak at a seminar. It may shock you to know that
some others have stayed with the advice to use starch on their shirts after they
heard me admonish strongly on its benets. Crisp well-ironed shirts make for a
smart professional look any day. The attitude for job search mastery is what I
have christened Getting a Job is a Job (and that we have discussed at other
times).
LEARN SELF-LEADERSHIP AND MARKETING
The third pillar of this readiness index is Self-leadership and Marketing. In my
discussion with a lot of younger people I sometimes get a sense that some of
them think they are still back at school. At other times the feeling I get is that
they think the world owes them. I am actually aware that some parents have
unconsciously helped their wards to arrive at this conclusion. Therefore one of
my biggest sermons is a call to personal responsibility you are responsible
for you. Selah!The second sermon is you are responsible for the outcomes
you experience. Truly there are things the Govt is supposed to do, yes there
are things that loved ones can do but your journey on the path to greatness
begins when you do not lean on the presence or absence of those things. This
is the essence of self-leadership. With this background we raise the readiness
index when we help people preparing to enter the workplace with tools and
insights that help them develop as leaders rst as leaders of themselves.
They need to know about time management; personal visioning; goal setting
and performance management; customer service; workplace ethics;
excellence as a lifestyle etc. I always look back to my rst job and I recall I used
to wonder why there was such a fuss at my sometimes arriving late I mean
even 5-10 minutes. Even though I knew the spelling of the word 'integrity' it was
upon arriving in the workplace that I knew that it had any signicance. Don't
forget that on a lot of our campuses and even in public life, integrity doesn't
mean anything. Self-leadership and marketing therefore includes the dierent
sets of activities that help you to master &manage yourself and your
interactions with others such that you (hopefully) stay in charge of their
perception of your value/contribution.
Having been locked up in the four walls of campuses for many years, and
having also survived there by 'reading to pass' many people leave
polytechnics/universities with a warped view of learning. Knowledge and
knowledge-renewal is the foundation of our world therefore self-learning is a
key competence for success in today's world. This is what makes self-learning
46
the fourth pillar for increasing Workplace & Enterprise Readiness within our
country. People must be taught to embrace continuous learning and
improvement as a way of life. Reading and researching, formal and informal
learning, developing a global learning agenda etc are all required tools for
deploying self-learning. This is why the late Steve Jobs must have ended his
2005 speech to graduating students of Stanford University, US with the words
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
It is possible for man to educate himself without help or support from others.
In fact, when we learn the art of self-education (learning how to learn versus
how to be taught) we will nd, if not create, opportunity to nd success beyond
our wildest dreams. Self-educated people are not dependent on others for
knowledge. If they need a specialized skill, they know how to acquire it without
dependence on authority. Unknowingly, people are promoted by their ability
to learn new skills fast. Bosses may not recognize how people learn, but they
do recognize the results.
Ask any business manager and he would tell you that one of
the things that dierentiates one employee from another is
the ability to seek and maximize opportunities without regard
to resources currently controlled or currently not-controlled.
So the ability to seek and extract value from any situation is the
foundation for success both in business and as an employee.
People, who know how to educate themselves have choices, they have the
ability to advance in any endeavor. There are many ways to acquire a skill that
has value to someone else. Everyone is unique and this uniqueness has value,
but only the individual can explore and discover what that uniqueness is.
People, who do not depend on authority for guidance can start now. People,
who want someone to show them the way, may never get started. Dependency
on self to develop skills is a powerful skill in itself. This is the tool of super
achievers. (ref. motivation-tools.com)
SEEK AND CONVERT OPPORTUNITIES
Lastly is the need to spur Opportunity seeking and Conversion amongst young
people as a means to growing our readiness index. This was clearly evident in
the posture taken by David (in the story at the beginning). Please let me give
47
you a background. I have always had a challenge with the way a number of
people tout entrepreneurship as the silver bullet that solves all of
unemployment. As far as they are concerned everyone should go start a
business. I have wondered about the person who didn't feel 'led' to start a
business. I have wondered who would be left to lead our ministries and
government agencies. Who would run our orphanages? This is in addition to
the fact that many people don't even know if they should be entrepreneurs or
career people. So my question is this: why must entrepreneurship be
separated so clearly and so early from the pursuit of a career? Then last year I
stumbled on a denition of entrepreneurship, which Robert Kiyosaki said was
one of his best denitions of entrepreneurship. It says Entrepreneurship is the
pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled by
Prof. Howard Stevenson of the Harvard Business School.
DIFFERENTIATED EMPLOYEES ARE ENTREPRENEURS
Ask any business manager and he would tell you that one of the things that
dierentiates one employee from another is the ability to seek and maximize
opportunities without regard to resources currently controlled or currently
not-controlled. So the ability to seek and extract value from any situation is the
foundation for success both in business and as an employee. It is this mindset
we need to sell to everyone and that way people can make up their minds to
extend this into business ownership or otherwise. Selling yourself into a job
through mapping who you are and the future you envision with a lean
employment climate is one of the most entrepreneurial endeavours that you
can undertake. Choosing to volunteer your services as an entrance route into
an industry or as a 'keep busy' scheme is entrepreneurial. Then there are those
employees who say I am just.Eg. I am just a receptionist. This means so
don't expect me to comprehend, know or be able to act beyond a receptionist.
These type of people LIMIT their interpretation of their jobs to ONLY what the
job description says. They aren't seeking and thus would miss out on
opportunities to 'extend themselves beyond themselves' into new roles,
assignments, projects or/and entirely new organisations.
BECOME A VALUE-ADDING MACHINE BECOME A CAREERPRENEUR
We need to use dierent ideas and mechanisms to help our youngsters
inculcate the spirit that inclines them to seek ways to extract value out of every
and any opportunity that comes their way. I meet a lot of people who ask me a
lot of questions about how to write a great CV. In their view if they just had that
skill their lives would never remain the same. But as I have eventually found
out, there is an all-important skill preceding this resume-writing skill. Not so
48
many people notice that the rst challenge is the content of the resume. What
do we write if you haven't done anything? For example, what do we write under
'Accomplishments' if you haven't accomplished ANYthing? Which is why I
preach something I call 'create your CV everywhere'. Look for opportunities
while in school, while on NYSC programme or while on your jobopportunities
to add value to any situation, person, group, organisation, local government,
industry etc. In today's world value is anything that brings happiness, relief,
money, convenience, cost-savings, reputation, time-savings, entertainment,
pleasure, service the list goes on. Add value to someone or someplace and
we can add it to your CV nicely. Serve or provide service and that we can place
on your resume as well. It is this same readiness or inclination for 'Opportunity
Conversion' that helps our graduates raise their overall Workplace &
Enterprise Readiness index. So no longer do we preach a strict dichotomy
between business ownership and a professional career pursuit, instead we
need to encourage everyone to be 'careerpreneurs' or opportunity
converters. I went to one university the other day and was shown a young man
studying Information Technology, who had designed an e-voting system,
which they used for the Student Union Government elections. There just must
be a connection between your passions, your skills, your interests and the
needs of the world LOCATE IT AND SERVE THE WORLD WITH IT.
RAISE THE INDEX NOWIN SCHOOL AND DURING NYSC.
Finally the last issue is about timing - when should we start to deploy
developmental interventions aimed at raising Workplace & Enterprise
Readiness? We should start while they are still in school this should be nicely
interspersed within our curriculum. I am weary of any school curriculum that
doesn't prepare people for the future. Then what the heavens is it doing? I
think readiness-for-the-future should be the raison d'tre for any institution.
Just like tending sheep was the readiness prep ground for that Jewish boy
David, so should school be for all of us. But for those who have already left our
campuses the next best time is during NYSC. There is a general consensus that
the NYSC scheme, as initially conceived, is out of sync with realities of the 21st
century. Let's use that period to do more than foster national unity, let's raise,
signicantly, the readiness index of our graduates, for the alternative of non-
action is dire.
49
The
UNEMPLOYMENT
MANIFESTO
A thought provoking report on Nigeria's
unemployment challenge

The Unemployment Manifesto

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