SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM

The timing is very wrong. Just last week, few days to Christmas, the National Bureau for statistics (NBS), released its latest Labour force statistics. Total number of the unemployed increased from 17.6 million in Q3 2017 to 20.9million in Q3 2018. Official unemployment rate moved from 18.8% in Q3 2017 to 21. 3% in Q3 2018. Unemployment plus underemployment reached 40%. Before this unpleasant news from NBS, the UNDP had announced Nigeria as the new World Poverty capital with 53.7% of its 180 million Nigerians living in EXTREME Poverty. That is to say that nearly 97 million Nigerians( those working and those not working) live on less than  two dollars a day( 700 Naira). India with about four times times Nigeria’s population now has about 71 million people in that category. With Nigeria’s GDP growing at 1.8% and population growing at 2.5%, this is bound to happen.     Perhaps this helps to explain why,in the last two weeks, I have constantly been on my Diamo...

Of recent, General  Abdulsalami Abubakar former military Head of State who ushered in the current civilian democratic governance, which is in its 20th year, has been in the news. His National Peace Committee got the 2019 Presidential candidates to sign a peace accord or rather an accord for peace. Wonderful gesture! This is actually not the first time, this committee that seems to have no tenure limit has gone on its missionary assignment of preaching peace in the Nation. They did so in the lead up to the 2015 elections and got Jonathan and Buhari to sign an accord for peace. I also noticed that at the heat of the Cattle - Fulani/Herders conflict that threatened to consume Nigeria, they were active in preaching Peace and arranging some meetings.     Over many years, General Yakubu Gowon, the man who led the Nigerian Civil War, who is also a member of this National Peace Committee, has been going round ‘praying’ for Nigeria. If the measure of the efficacy of his p...

After fIve quarters of economic contraction (Q1 2016 - Q1 2017), Nigeria exited recession. With a positive 0.72% GDP growth in Q2 2017, economic recovery has been slow and grinding, reaching 1.9 % in Q1 2018 and declining to 1.5 % in Q2  2018. Consequent on this, the economic well-being of many Nigerians has been unsatisfactory. Indeed for many, there is actually no evidence that the recession was over. And this is understandable because unemployment and underemployment continued to grow reaching 40% in Q2 this year (Unemployment =18.8%: Underemployment = 21.2%). Because inflation, though moderated remains at double digit, combined with the high unemployment rate resulting to an improved misery index of 30% (the eight highest in the World, behind Argentina, Kosovo, South Africa, Mozambique, DRC, Yemen and Venezuela).     Indeed, the difficulties in the economy are logical, giving that a GDP growth of 1.5% against a population g...