NECA blames rising unemployment on lack of good governance

As NNEW unveils virtual office

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has blamed the upsurge in unemployment in the country on lack of pervasive development and absence of good governance.

Speaking in Lagos, the Director General of NECA, Olusegun Oshinowo, said Nigeria is a developing country with untapped opportunities, waiting to be harnessed.

He argued that if Nigeria gets its act right, the country should be looking for manpower to support the economy.

The NECA Scribe, who spoke at the launch of an initiative profiled ‘virtual office’ by its sister’s body, NECA’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW), said until Nigeria realizes that the country’s problem is not majorly unemployment, it will continue to treat the symptoms rather than the disease.

“How can a country with large arable land have graduates of agriculture that are unemployed? How can a country, which is the biggest exporter of crude oil in Africa and sixth in the world, have graduates of chemical engineering and geology that are unemployed? The two do not really connect,” he said.

Oshinowo said the problem of the country is not unemployment, but absence of failure of good policies to promote meaningful development in all strata of government.

The virtual office, which is a space utility facility with full application that includes professional live communications, is designed to meet the growing demand of Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs (SMEs) for affordable office space.

Having recognised that not all start-up businesses would have the means or the resources to acquire its own office space or facility to start-up, Oshinowo said they need a workplace environment to utilise their vocational skills stating that if the business environment has not been friendly to sustain existing businesses and encourage new ones, they may not have a place to utilise them.

“We need to get our priority right. It seems like a marathon kind of approach, which will eventually lead to the resolution of our usual employment. We have got to take a step along that way by prioritising meaningful development, good government policies, encouraging good governance in all strata of government. If we fail to do that, whatever other measures we take to solve unemployment would not lead anywhere,” he said.

A member of the Governing Council, NNEW, Mrs. Fayo Williams noted that good governance is essential to the development of the economy and people of Nigeria.

According to her, Nigeria needs a lot of inter-agency cooperation with a marshal plan that would help the country harness its human and natural bountiful resources.

“We need to get the economy going using the SMEs as a launch pad, making them feel welcome and helping them overcome some of the hydra-headed issues to make them more relevant now in the 21st century” she said.

She affirmed that if Nigeria gets it right, it will virtually produce all types of jobs and the questions of getting the youth to acquire skills and vocational trainings.

In her remarks, President, NNEW, Modupe Oyekunle, said the ‘virtual office’ is located at a prime business location in Lagos with the aim of helping businesses that use the facilities to reduce their overheads by spreading costs among users and therefore increase profitability.