NAN-HE-3
Unemployment
By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma
Lagos, June 7, 2017 (NAN) Some financial experts on Wednesday attributed the rising unemployment in Nigeria to delay in budget approval and disharmonisation between monetary and fiscal policies.
The experts, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews in Lagos, said that there was the need for early passage of the budget for quick implementation to tame unemployment rate.
NAN reports that the financial experts were reacting to the unemployment figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the fourth quarter of 2016.
NBS had on June 5 said that unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2016 rose to 14.2 per cent from 13.9 per cent in third quarter of 2016 and 10.4 per cent in fourth quarter of 2015.
Prof. Sheriffdeen Tella, an economic expert, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, said that delay in budget approvals was the major cause of unemployment in the country.
Tella said that capital projects that increases employment could only be executed when the budget was passed.
“This is the middle of the year and the budget is yet to be approved, talk more of implementation. When will implementation and disbursement begin?’’ Tella asked.
He said capital budget had multiplier effects in the system, saying money released would move from one hand to the other with construction companies employing more hands to execute projects.
According to him, the unemployment rate will continue to increase with the continuous delay of the budget.
Tella added that the non-alignment between the monetary and the fiscal policy had also contributed to the unemployment rate.
He said that government should mandate the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to bring down the interest rate to encourage borrowings for business expansion.
Dr Uche Uwaleke, the Head of Banking and Finance Department, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, said that the rise in unemployment rate from 13.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2016 to 14.2 per cent in the fourth quarter was a testimony of an economy that was still struggling with recession.
Uwaleke said that last quarter of 2016 was characterised by tightened monetary policy with interest rate as high as 14 per cent coupled with a drag in the implementation of the 2016 budget, especially the capital component which negatively affected job creation.
He said that the high exchange rate contributed to the unemployment figure during the period.
According to him, attention must be paid to the implementation of the capital component of the 2017 budget when approved to bring down unemployment rate.
He said that entrepreneurship education should be emphasised in school curriculum in view of NBS report that of the entire labour force made up of persons within ages of 15 and 64 years, unemployment rate was recorded more within the ages of 15 and 24 years.
Uwaleke, however, said that the figure would likely change in subsequent quarters following improvements in the foreign exchange market liquidity in the wake of the apex bank interventions. (NAN)
JNC/AOM/EEE
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Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed/Ese E. Ekama