TheCable

The senate has asked the federal government to declare a state of emergency on unemployment in the country.

The upper legislative chamber also asked the ministries of finance, national budget and planning to put in place a programme that will productively engage the minds of young Nigerians.

These resolutions followed a motion sponsored by Ike Ekweremadu, senator representing Enugu west.

Moving the motion on Wednesday, the former deputy senate president described the unemployment situation as a “time bomb waiting to explode”.

“The statement credited to senator Chris Ngige, minister of labour and productivity, and published in Premium Times of 9th November 2019 declares that Nigeria’s unemployment rate will hit 33.5 percent by 2020,” he said.

“Any nation with such number of unemployed – both the employable youths are sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

“The most pressing demand on the hands of all of us as senators and public officers is rising number of CVs and applications from our various constituents.”

The senator said the energies and talents of unemployed Nigerians “are usually redirected to unprofitable ventures”.

Contributing to the debate, Smart Adeyemi, senator representing Kogi west, described the situation as a “serious national problem”.

“Yesterday Mr President, I was in my house, more than four different banks came to me and were telling me to fill forms and take money, just because I am back to the senate. These are people I spoke to some months back to appeal to them to give me facility to run my business but they were not forthcoming,” he said.

“In essence, banks in Nigeria, they have contributed in no small measure to the problem of unemployment in Nigeria.”

Biodun Olujimi, senator representing Ekiti south, spoke in support of the motion.

The motion was adopted after it was put to a voice vote.