By Uche Anichukwu
According to data available on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics, more than 23 million Nigerians representing 33.3 per cent of the country’s population are unemployed. This is one of the highest in the world. But even more disheartening is that a 42.5 per cent of this unemployed population are youths; the critical demography that drives production and growth in a nation.
This is a clear disaster. Anyone who expects social stability, security, and economic prosperity in a country with such colossal youth unemployment is only living an illusory life because the saying that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop holds very true, especially in a country without any formal social security system beyond family and friends. Put differently, insecurity in Nigeria – terrorism, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, and other forms of criminal engagements – cannot stop thriving when their source of manpower is brimming without being productively engaged. Add this to an outdated school curriculum that still teaches students how to draw butterflies and label parts of a butterfly instead of vocational and digital skills relevant to this age, the dearth of foreign investments, high mortality rate of enterprises, inclement environment for production, and a birth rate that is ceaselessly outdoing economic growth, then we see why Nigeria is in for bigger trouble.
It is against this backdrop that I wrote in a December 3, 2022 Thisday back page piece, “Enugu 2023: It’s the Economy, Stupid”, that as far as the 2023 general election is concerned, economy is everything, not only in our choice of the next President, but also in our choice of governors. I however did express the utter disappointment that whereas the states need innovative and ambitious economic visionaries to turn our economic emergency around, the economy is seldom the meat of the campaigns, especially at that level.
The bad news is that even as I pen this, the messaging by the supposed opposition in Enugu at such a period of national economic emergency is all about empty sloganeering, mudslinging, tantrum-throwing, and stoking of clannish emotions. They don’t care about tabling their plans to navigate Enugu through the turbulent national economic outlook to a safe and prosperous economic harbour.
So far, only Dr. Peter Mbah has shown a clear understanding of the urgency of now as he engages the electorate, trade unions, educational institutions professional associations, and community leaders, the youth, and women, among others, in town hall meetings across the state. Addressing the international and local investors and members of the diplomatic community at the official opening of the Godfrey Okoye University – European Business Park and Centre for Practical Skills (CPS) at Ugwuomu, Nike, Enugu in December 2022, Mbah said: “We no longer have room for procrastination. We can no longer wait. We have to hit the ground running, building our economy”.
He is the only candidate that has offered Enugu people a new economic deal, promising to build the state’s economy from its current $4.4 billion GDP to $30 billion GDP and to move it from a public sector driven economy to a private sector driven economy. Only Mbah has come out with a concrete and measurable deal to make Enugu one of the top three states in Nigeria in terms of GDP and reduce the poverty headcount rate to zero.
It is Mbah, who has shown a clear understanding that youth unemployment and poverty is a ticking bomb and he is espousing a clear vision, multidimen…
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