The COVID-19 challenge continues to plummel humanity. It has defied solution and spawned dislocations of monstrous consequences. The world economic outlook remains gloomy and other strata of life are largely prostrate.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo painted a grim picture of this in Abuja penultimate Thursday. He warned that a whopping 39.4milion Nigerians may lose their jobs by the end of this year, unless prompt pre-emptive measures are taken to mitigate the ruinous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The vice-president, who was presenting the report of his panel, Committee on Economic Sustainability, to President Muhammadu Buhari, said the projection was predicated on the mandatory lockdowns and social distancing measures imposed by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19. These, he said, have had a negative impact on farms and factories as well as trade, transport and tourism.
Governments at all levels should appreciate that increasing unemployment rate is a time bomb because of its dire social consequences. Unemployment creates restive youths who in turn vent their egregious tendencies on the society. There is direct correlation between spiralling rate of unemployment and the increasing social unrest manifesting in kidnapping for ransom, armed robberies, ritual killings, rape and other villainous activities.
Steady power supply is key to job creation. But the power outlook in Nigeria is still sullen, even with the privatisation of the power sector. Although the electricity generation companies were said to have doubled their capacity from 4,214MW when they took over in 2013 to 8,145MW this year, only 3,98MW are currently available. The Minister of State for Power, Mr. Goddy Jedy Agba, blamed distribution as the major problem, at a media interactive session in Abuja.
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