Nigerian Youths unemployment has been widely publicized and discussed.  It is no longer news, and does not really need publicity. The impact is seen every day on our streets, social media, homes and all around us: there is one cousin, one sister, one brother, one friend or a friend’s child who you know is in need of a job. You get the calls, get CVs sent to you, but for the most part, you appear helpless as well. Anyone been there?  On social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, the deluge of unemployed youths, who have learnt to voice out and call for help for jobs is alarming. You walk on the streets and see young and agile youths careless about ego and go ‘please help me with transport’, ‘please help me with something to eat’. The human instinct is to be judgmental – call them names and wonder why they ‘cannot go and look for job’.  Sadly, that is what they get most of the time.

As a nation, we have an ever increasing population and a mass of that are our agile and energetic youths.  The stage we have reached in our youth unemployment rate is alarming; it has reached a scary high. Therefore, it cannot be business as usual for all stakeholders (individuals, parents, family, private and government) in addressing the issue of job creation for our youths.  Concerted and deliberate efforts and plan need to be in place. A plan devoid of tribal, ethnic, religious and political sentiments is the only plan that will work and take us out of the impending greater harm of youth unemployment.

Therefore job creation should be and is everyone’s responsibility.  There is something each of us can do to support job creation. If you are already doing something, the urgency calls for more. My thoughts on job creation:

Consider Child’s Personality: Parents and guardians have a role to play in ensuring that their children have a chance at employment upon graduation. Therefore, parents need to begin to assess the personality traits of their children and wards as they take them through the process of choosing a course of study. Our private and government owned primary and secondary schools, may also want to adapt career assessment programs to help guide children and young adults in the process.  

This very important decision (course of study) plays out while these young adults are in higher schools and when they face the labour market. When they take courses ‘for the sake of parental approval’ or lack of proper guidance, some of them come out as much a liability to their families and marketplace as they were prior to a higher education.

Deliberately  Support for made-in-Nigerian Products:  As a people, we have grown to become import-dependent to the state of self-doubt.  If it is not imported, it is not good enough.   

Yes, we are not in a state where we can do without a large percentage of import (and I do not have anything against importation). But we have to begin to deliberately support locally made products.  Our Local, State or Federal government executive (political or appointed) need deliberately support made in Nigeria Products. Here are some considerations:

• Revive the orientation and support for made in Nigeria products; these businesses are our first hand job creators;
• Have a policy where all government parastatals, agencies or institutions including our executive, legislative and executive arms are supplied with made in Nigeria products as first option.  All their consumables from toilet tissue to furniture and Softwares would be supplied by Nigerian manufacturers;
• Give incentive to multinationals who have the policy, implement it, procure and use locally made products and consumables for their operations;
• Provide incentives and awards for our young innovators and manufacturers, project them as role models to young adults;
• Support small and medium scale manufacturers with local and international market access for their products.

Government should not be the sole driver of the economy:  Most businesses thrive on government patronage; and as soon as that business is out of sync with a new government in power; that business, all the jobs and livelihood created within that sphere suffers or become non-existence. An enabling environment that supports the establishment, success and growth of private sector businesses will enhance job creation.

Where are the industries?:  We have a huge population of over 200 million but lack enough local industries to cater for their basic needs: water, clothing, food, housing, household consumables and more. Most of these basic goods are largely imported and few local businesses take insignificant amount of the market share. To create jobs, we have to have a fair percentage of local industries, small and medium scale manufacturers that are thriving, growing and scaling. There is need to create an enabling environment for industries operate and be able to serve our huge population and growing consumer taste.

Encourage Private Sector Short-term Internship Scheme: Soon after the one year mandatory Nigerian Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program, most graduates are back to the labour market and the NYSC work experience of some, do not bring so much value to employers.  An interaction with a few NYSC graduates – who are usually sent to teach in rural schools, would show near zero skills that would bring value employers.

Encourage, reach an alliance, or provide incentives with sector businesses that offer internship at a token allowance for NYSC graduates.  An internship for 2 graduates every 3 months, per organisation, per annum by say 5,000 private businesses will reach and impact about 30,000  youths annually across major cities in Nigeria. This keeps a majority of youths engaged at a time.

Create a Healthy Competition for Job Creation:  Let each State Governor create a healthy Job Creation Competition among its Local Government Area or Council.  Give an incentive of say, additional 5% allocation bonus to a local government that comes up with initiatives that creates jobs and economically empower youths within its community.  To be successful, such competition should be devoid of any form of religious or political sentiments; it should be guided by data and external evaluation.

Research and Development:  How strong do we think we are on Research and Development at different levels of government – local, state and federal?  What type of value do we place on our academic researchers, our professors and their attempted inventions? Anybody got the answer? How do we plan for growth without adequate and accurate data?  How do we plan for growth when the data will not be put to use. Can we make deliberate efforts to begin to turn the tables?

I recommend an active Research and Development Desk for all constituencies – communities, local government and ministries (at State and Federal levels).  These Desks should engage our fresh and numerically inclined graduates and put them to work. Stimulate their minds and engage them in nothing but research, data collection and analysis which can be used to further serve and address social issues from health, to infrastructure, to population, crime and commerce.

Encourage Research and development across all strata of our institutions. Provide incentives for researchers and provide funding.  Give Researchers awards and recognition and help them to promote their inventions locally and internationally; and help them with good regulations to protect their inventions and intellectual property.

Make Commerce Possible in other States and Regions:  Can we have more Airports, Sea Ports and Road Networks in more parts of the Country?  This enhances movement of goods and services, boosts commerce, reduces urban congestion and migration and ultimately creates job and grows the economy.  Who gains – a Nigeria that could boast of improved GDP!  

Review the Curriculum of our Schools: Review the Curriculum of our Schools at all levels to fit the realities of our fast-paced modern world. The world is changing, but our Schools curriculum unchanging.   Such a review should address core subjects and also include special courses that would align and equip fresh graduates with skills that prepare them for the demands of the labour market.   

Re-Design the Courses Offered in Universities: What is the purpose of being in the university in the first place? To acquire knowledge that enables an individual become fit for employment, either as an employee or an entrepreneur and add value to the society.  Everyone needs the skills required to play in the marketplace. But most of our Courses do not prepare students to fit into our current or future labour market demands. What is our plan for giving a child admission to study Linguistic and Russian Language? Is our environment or labour demand ready or have need for such skill? Do we have a program that enables such skill to be ‘exported’? 

Why do we offer courses such as Animal Husbandry with near zero animal farms nationwide?  It is time to look inwards, redesign some courses being offered, keep some courses in the ‘archive’ or create a program to ensure that students that are ‘required’ to undergo such studies have a ready labour market that will absorb them.

Invest in our Educational System:  How much of our budget goes to education?  Is it possible to have a deliberate budget increment for education for the next 20 years? As far as our educational system is concerned, we get what we give. We need a shift.

Be serious about Development:  When it comes to development, let’s learn to keep off tribal, religious and political sentiments, and truly begin to deliberately invest and focus on development.  Put in place the right infrastructure that creates an enabling environment for human life development, wealth creation and economic boost. Countries such as Singapore and China have seen be seen to be deliberate about national development; those deliberate efforts of past decades is what the world see today, their citizens being the top beneficiaries.

Use Data Analytics for Governance:  We have capable IT companies that can support each local, state and federal government ministries and agencies, including the three arms of government (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) to better manage governance. Does the average hospital in a State know the number of adults visiting the hospital for a simple thing as malaria within say one month, to enable better preparation for the drug, the personnel and even utilities (water, toiletries, electricity etc) that will be required? Data should be the life of our governance and administration in today’s Nigeria.

Our Value System: Our young adults are guided by our value system.  We cannot attach value to certain things, and expect the opposite from our youths.  What gets the most accolades from us as a society? Merit driven performance or something that brings less value to human lives.  Our definition of success is no longer our intellectual capacity and merit-driven performance. What society presents, is what our youths emulate and pursue in adult life.  A re-orientation of the good old values of hard work, legally earned wealth, success as a process and not get quick rich syndrome, may be the place to start from at home and in all religious and secular settings.

Conclusion: Our greatest and God-given assets are our youths. They have the energy, the talents and young minds. Every parent looks forward to having a child that could ensure family continuity; that is equipped and capable to support them at old age.  As a nation, do have these in our youths?  

None of the above can be achieved in one year or two-term political administration.  But how about a 20 year Plan for Job Creation for Nigerian Youths? We have the people, the talents and the resources, let’s harness them.

The introduction of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) with the accompanying ATM Cards into the Nigerian banking industry has boosted service delivery by the banks and also brought about ease of access to customers’ account(s) domiciled in the different banks. Cash debits, deposits, transfers and Person to Person (P2P) lending are now transacted within a very short time unlike before.

The first ever ATM to be introduced into Nigerian banking industry was “Cash Point 24” by the now defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria in 1990. This was later followed by “First Cash” introduced by the First Bank of Nigeria Limited in 1991. Today, there are over 12,000 (Twelve thousand ATMs in all bank branches across Nigeria. The boost that the introduction of the ATM has given to banking services is been unprecedented. With just the punch of a button, very important transactions are completed. This has also moved to the use of Point of Sale (POS) machines by business owners to enable ease of payment by their customers.

Added to that, the mobile/internet banking platforms also came in vogue. Transactions running into millions can be completed from the comfort of one’s home. The combined effect of these innovative banking services is that customers would not need to stand on long queues just to withdraw, deposit, transfer fund, buy airtime, subscribe for DSTV and other services or even request to know their account balance. Nigerians can still recall how hectic it used to be when the ATMs and other innovative banking service channels were not deployed by the banks. But the case is different today.

INTRODUCTION OF BANK VERIFICATION NUMBERS

This widespread acceptance of these FinTech services did not go without the activities of fraudsters using through these channels. However, to put these fraud activities on check, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on February 14, 2014 launched the Bank Verification Number (BVN) which a biometric capturing the vital data of all bank account users, as part of its overall strategy of ensuring effectiveness of the Know Your Customer (KYC) principles and the promotion of a safe, reliable and efficient payment system.

The BVN is a unique identification (ID) number which is issued to every bank customer upon enrolment and it is linked to every account the customer maintains in all banks in Nigeria. The bank customer’s information is stored in the Central Database which the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) is in charge of, thus enabling ease of identification of each bank customer.

According to the CBN Regulatory Framework for Bank Verification Number Operations and Watch-List, for the Nigerian Financial System, 2017 the key stakeholders in the operations of the BVN are the CBN, NIBSS, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) and Bank Customers. The overall consequence of this is that transactions initiated by a bank customer can be monitored from the Central Database and with that, acts amounting fraud on an account can easily be detected and escalated, and confirmed acts of fraud on a bank account would be flagged and placed on the Watch-List. The NIBSS maintains also an online Watch-List portal and provides an Application Programming Interface (API) to enable all banking institutions in Nigeria to integrate their systems to the BVN database for online validation of the Watch-List. The CBN, NIBSS, DMBs, and OFIs all have access to the BVN Central Database and the Watch-List.

A bank customer’s name on the BVN Central Database is the same in all accounts which the customer has in all other banks in Nigeria. The BVN operational process and procedure takes the form of: Enrolment ? Identification ? Verification and ? linking the customer’s unique ID to all related bank accounts in Nigeria. The customer’s unique ID generated after enrolment is used to link all his/her bank accounts, irrespective of which bank it is domiciled.

HARMONISATION OF ALL ACCOUNTS INTO A SINGLE ATM CARD

Flowing from the above, the questions which now beg for answers are:

1. Given the structure that has been put in place by the CBN in conjunction with all other stakeholders in the banking industry, what stops the CBN from ensuring that all bank customers’ accounts with different banks are integrated into a single ATM (debit) Card?

2. Why would I have to have 4 to 5 ATM Cards all because I maintain 4 to 5 bank accounts with different banks in Nigeria? Or even different bank accounts domiciled in the same bank?

I do not think this is an impossible thing to be done, since the system in place can make that possible. If an individual’s BVN ID can be linked to all his/her bank accounts with different banks and in the same name, I do not see the reason why such individual should be having several ATM Cards when a single ATM Card can solve that problem. This is the desired change that FinTech is introducing into the banking service which should be embraced by the banks. Harmonising all the bank accounts into a single ATM Card also has the added advantage of enabling better tracking of transactions that go on in the banks from the Central Database.

Technology is fast changing service delivery in all sectors in the world, including the banking industry and the Nigeria banking industry should not be drawing back at point in time.

I call on the Central Bank of Nigeria, as the regulatory body in the banking sector, to consider enabling the harmonisation of all bank accounts into a single ATM Card. This would not change the role of the issuers, because bank customers still preference for Visa Card or Master Card. Whichever card the individual wants, the card issuers’ services would still be needed.

No one wants to fail. In fact, wishing someone failure could cause a great fight and enmity between the two of you. People view it as a curse, a weakness, a sign of incompetency, and a lack. I could remember one of my bosses saying that teachers should do everything possible to make sure that students don’t fail because of the effects it will have on them. Failure is actually a no-no in everybody’s wish list.

Failure can play a lot of tricks on our emotions. It affects our mental, social, psychological, financial and even physical well-being. In this piece, we will look into its effects, advantages and how these effects can be managed.

Reactions to Failures

Before we go into effects of Failure, we need to see some of the ways we react to it.

a. Shock: The first feeling we have whenever we fail is shock. We always want to believe that what we saw or heard isn’t true. Some of us will even wipe our eyes, pinch ourselves or slap our faces to be sure we aren’t dreaming. Well, if the failure is real, welcome on board.

b. Rejection: Yes, that’s the second phase. You will automatically reject the result because you ‘know what you wrote.’ Don’t worry, we all know what we did and are so sure of how good we are. But we still failed. That’s life.

c. Suspicion and Blame: If you are man enough not to suspect foul play and point blaming fingers on the assessors, then I commot cap for you. But if you do, don’t worry, it is a natural thing to do.

d. Excuses: By the time you are done with blaming and suspecting foul play, and nobody believes you, you start making excuses on why you had to fail. This part is what we need to battle because you may end up not correcting whatever that made you fail in the first place.

e. Demonstration: When people feel that their failure wasn’t justified, they react by demonstrating and voicing out their grievances. This can come in various forms. Some people may decide to use the social media to blacklist their assessors; some may take to the streets to announce their grievances; some go to court; and then, some decide to destroy lives and properties. Most of the violence happening today is caused by mismanagement of the effects of failures.

Effects of Failure

As I stated earlier, failure can affect every aspect of our well-being. Below are some of the effects failures can have on us.

i. Anger and Hatred: Depends on who you are transferring these emotions to. If you are angry with yourself for not being good enough, that means you have realised where the problem is coming from, meaning that the solution isn’t farfetched. But if the anger is towards another person or thing, you then need to let go immediately. By the way, never hate yourself or anyone else because you failed.

ii. Despair and Helplessness: Sometimes failure can cause these. A lot of people lose hope when they fail while some see themselves as helpless. The result of these two feelings is self-pity, which the ‘victims’ use as a strategy to obtain understanding, pity and help from people.

iii. Demoralisation: Failure can demoralise people. It can cause people to limit their abilities by making them think they are not good enough to achieve a given task. This can make the person perform even poorer if given the task again or he will give up entirely.

iv. Anxiety: It will be difficult not to be afraid and nervous after failing, especially when facing the same task you flopped before. Mismanaging this fear and its accompanying nervousness can lead to further failures and possible destruction of the person’s ‘fighting spirit’.

Well, we have seen some of the effects failures can have on us. I believe most of us can identify with some, if not all of them. Anyway, we have to move on.

Advantages of Failures

I know a lot of us don’t want to know what is good about failure. But then if we look back into our lives, we can see how our failures and rejections became the propellers that got us to where we are. But, if you are still having difficulties reconciling with yourself because of you failed one or two tasks, make out time to reflect on what you will gain from allowing what life threw at you to lead you.

1. Failure gives us experiences. Do you know why organisations want to recruit people that have on-the-job experiences? Well, it is because they want people that have made mistakes and learnt from them. So, if you don’t fail, you won’t learn because failure is a teacher.

2. Failure sends us on further studies so we can acquire deeper knowledge. When you write a given test and you were told you aren’t good enough, what will you do? You go for further researches and studies, right? So, if you hadn’t failed, how will you have known those things you discovered when you carried out the researches and studies?

3. Failure helps us to improve. You know, when you fail, you have learnt one way something doesn’t work. This means you have to work on yourself, acquire more skills, create new ideas and do whatever you need to make sure you keep abreast of the current situation of things.

4. Failure teaches us humility. This function of failure is so strong. Start now to pay attention to people who feel they have it all worked out. No one will tell you they haven’t yet encountered failure because it will show in their character. I believe we know how humility can help us achieve success in life.

5. Failure teaches us humanity. This is so true. If you are lucky to have a boss or a mentor who has tasted failure, you will notice that they are more understanding and approachable. They can tolerate your own mistakes and patiently show you how to improve.

6. Failure teaches us to take things serious. Have you ever failed because you took the task for granted? Well that happens to me a lot. And whenever I fail because I was unserious, I always sit up in the next task. I sometimes tell myself that if I was able to scale through the task despite my laxity, maybe I will fail in a more serious task that will cost me so much.

7. Failure helps us to build better networks. This is very true. Failing usually means that either we don’t know or understand the task, or we are not good enough to perform it. In other words, we need people that will help us out. So, when we fail, we look for better contacts that can help us gain more knowledge and we drop those that are drawing us back.

We know it is not easy to accept that we are not good enough. The effects are involuntary and can cause more problems if not well handled. It takes knowledge and matured mind to be able to manage the effects and fears of further failure.

How to Manage the Effects of Failure

1. Willpower: You need to be strong so you can get up, dust yourself up and move on. You have to remember that no one will do this for you except you. Tell yourself it is ok to fail because you have found one way to fail and you are not going to take that path again.

2. Listen to Other’s Life Story: Someone once told me to read and listen to people’s success stories because their pains, joys, failures and strategies are embedded there. It will be good for you to read up the success stories of people you admire. This will help you realise that they too have failed but did not allow themselves to be weighed down by it.

3. Objective Assessment: One thing that works for me after failing is to find out why I failed. One of the ways I do this is by evaluating myself objectively to find out where I didn’t do well. To do this, I put myself in the position of the assessor and grade myself. I always come out with a better result after this. And believe me when I say that I never fail again when I go back to re-perform the task.

4. Ask Questions: When you don’t really understand why you failed, be humble enough to ask for the reasons you didn’t meet up. When the assessor truly sees that you asked because you wanted to improve, you will get the required answers.

5. Self Improvement: Finding out what the problem is isn’t enough. You need to work on yourself. Find out where you didn’t do well and improve on it.

6. Be in Control: Don’t allow anxiety to take the better part of you. It is ok to feel anxious when performing another task but try to be in control of your emotions so they don’t make things worse.

7. Keep Busy: In some cases, we need to keep ourselves busy so we don’t have to think so much about our failures. For example, if you failed an employment exam, don’t stop to lament about that, keep yourself busy preparing for other exams. But remember to follow step 1 – 6 above.

8. Stay Positive: Kindly stay away from negative people, who tell you how bad and corrupt the system is. Please, don’t blame anyone for your failure and don’t look for reasons to be angry because of it. Stay positive and learn from the lessons life is throwing at you.

Remember, life isn’t fair to anyone. Take whatever it throws your way and turn it to your advantage.

What just happened at the Federal University, Oye-Ekitk (FUOYE)?

It was reported that the students were peacefully protesting against the poor power supply in the school environment. According to the report, it was a peaceful protest aimed at expressing their grievances, only to be stopped by the oncoming vehicles of the governor’s wife, Her Excellency, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, the wife of Gov. Kayode Fayemi, who was in town for an empowerment programme.

As reported, the police fired shots at the students in an attempt to clear the road for the governor’s wife but ended up killing two students.

However, the police have quickly moved to deny the claims and rubbished the news that said two students were killed. Instead, the police accused the students of taking laws into their hands by trying to vandalize the vehicles that accompanied Her Excellency, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi.

Mr. Ikechukwu, a deputy superintendent of police, even claimed that a weapon was recovered from the protesting students.

The students were accused of blocking the road, which the police officers at the scene removed the blockade and dispersed the students peacefully. But the protecting students came back in masses to challenge Her Excellency.

Who do we believe in this scenario?

The students have reported that they lost two of their students in this ugly mayhem, while the police have denied and claimed the students were trying to cause panic and disrupt the peace in the state.

I hope our President, General Muhammadu Buhari, and the president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), will look into this matter and punish the parties involved. Considering that we are still healing from the xenophobic attack on our brothers and sisters in South Africa, students-and-police brouhaha is not something we want at this present moment.

We are tired of hearing unpleasant news in our country. The country is in a trying moment, enough of all this news about killings and shedding of blood. When are we ever going to be free from this?

We don’t want it anymore!