User talk:Aduloju Lanre Babatunde

The young people's "access" to the labour market in Nigeria

A piece, on the concept of unemployment and the Nigerian job market was written in 2015, the reason I decided to write that article, was because at that time I was managing a recruitment platform, which was created to assist the Nigerian job seeker, but was surprised at the appalling state the Nigerian graduate was at, the level of mediocrity and the loss of moral value found in the employment market. Candidates ready to pay any amount for a job, ready to have sexual affairs to get recruited, candidates who couldn’t speak properly or write a formal employment cover letter. It was disturbing, but I am however willing to share my thoughts with you on the about subject of discuss. First of all, I would like to say that the Nigerian labor market is strongly affected by 4 major factors:

1)	The downwards movement of our educational sector: Our educational system has been strongly affected by years of decay in our moral values and the norms that guide the road to youths building a career or becoming self employed. Where corruption is celebrated and immoral behavior is praised, a simple example is our public servants who take on positions, with fake or non-existent educational documents needed to sit in the offices they occupy, also the celebration of internet fraud stars, with the alias “Yahoo boys”.  These are a few concerns that have spiral down effect on the decisions our youths of today have to make, where they pay themselves through university, liaising with corrupt lectures to get results they don’t deserve, or fall out of school with the get rich quick syndrome. The solution is attacking these issues with government policies that meet the issues head on. IF the youths see that there are punishments and also possible rewards for getting good grades. 2)	The lack of infrastructural support from the public and private sector: In Nigeria there are no educational support systems that help prepare the Nigerian graduate for the outside world. Only a few organizations like Google, who carry out support programs, in training and developmental seminars that has helped in integrating the Nigerian youth into the Labor market.

3)	The concept of god-fatherism: Most employment processes are exposed to the go-fatherism concept. With selection being based on who referred the candidate for the role, this makes it hard for candidates from a lesser background to get noticed. Thus causing inequality in the labor market, this affecting the access for the principal of best fit, best practice. 4)	The lack of adequate supply of competencies as against the high level of demand of desired competencies: the lack of drive for personal development and not certificate chasing has been in the front line of the low level of supply of adequate competencies across the different industries. There is however a demand for specific skills, which employers of labor over the years have tried to fill, thus leaving a big vacuum in the job space, and leaving room for limited resources to pick from, with the recruitment concept “head hunting” used to target candidates from industry competitors.

Access into the Labor market now for youths in Nigeria, is getting tougher by the day. The solutions are cross boarder development, from the public sector to the private sector and then the youths themselves.

a)	 Public sector: there is a responsibility of every government to its people, which is infrastructural development, which target sub-operating structures such as schools, good accessible roads, electricity, good water and security. All these have a ripple effect in helping build the platform for foreign direct investment, and local investment in communities across the nation. Thus creating more jobs, and opening more economic pipelines for new businesses.

b)	Private sector: Some will say that the private sector is doing its best to give back and help integrate the new generation into an already bustling economic landscape. International companies like Google and Uber, have provided this platform for this possible integration, as they have helped in the educating and provision of job opportunities. With that said we know they can do much more to help in reshaping and redesigning our job market.

c)	The Youth army: We need our youths to reduce the amount of time they spend on social media platforms, on time wasting activities and focus on programs that would help them develop their personal growth. It has become so sad that youths now these days know much more about hip-hop stars, movie stars, and the rash over-exaggerated life styles of politicians than what directions their lives should follow. They should look for programs to help their presentation skills, communication, business analysis and relationship management skills. This seems like a lot to ask from all parties, but if this is done, then we are guaranteed of a revival in our job market, and then becoming a nation that is driven by competence and not by mediocrity.

-Aduloju Lanre Babatunde (talk) 09:46, 15 August 2017 (UTC)-