Succour may soon come to unemployed graduates in Nigeria if the recommendation of one of the committees at the ongoing National Conference is accepted at the plenary and by the Federal Government.
Our correspondent learnt that the conference’s Committee on Law, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Reform had recommended that each unemployed graduate should be paid a monthly allowance equivalent to the allowance of members of the National Youth Service Corps.
Presently, the Federal Government pays each corps member a monthly allowance of N19,800
A member of the committee said the recommendation was one of the ways the committee members felt that crime could be reduced in the country.
Apart from that, the source said the members felt that the action would force the Federal Government to be alive to its responsibility of providing welfare to its citizens.
The committee member, who asked not to be named, said, “The recommendation is our own way of finding solutions to the rising wave of crime in the country and to also force the government to do the needful for the increasing number of unemployed graduates in the country.
“We have done our part and it is left for the delegates to either reject or accept it at plenary.” Punch
In as much as i support the move, it will now render most youth lazy and useless because majority will be comfortable with the pay. My candid suggestion is that after NYSC the pay should be cut down to 10.000 naira
The recommendation by the national confab Committee on Law, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Reform to pay each unemployed graduate a monthly allowance (currently N19,800) equivalent to the allowance of members of the National Youth Service Corps, appears a good solution superficially.
There are questions to be asked, however. Would this situation lead to dependence on government welfare? Does Nigeria generate sufficient income on taxes and crude oil sales to fund this or would the private sector businesses and working class Nigerians shoulder the burden of these payments? Can the government prevent fraud in identifying legitimate unemployed graduates?
More importantly – are there better solutions? There are state resources that are not being developed by the federal government that has a constitutional monopoly hold on such resources; can states be allowed to seek local and international investments to develop these resources? There are opportunities at the local level but the local governments are being treated as though they don’t exist. If local governments were allowed to function they’d need good managers, accountants, auditors, town planners, etc., and these would generate employment and more effective service provision to the people.