 In 2021, the unemployment rate in Nigeria is estimated to reach 32.5%. This figure is projected to increase further in 2022. Chronologically, data showed that the unemployment rate in Nigeria rose constantly in the past years. In the fourth quarter of 2020, over 33% of the labour force was unemployed according to the Nigerian methodology. On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Nigeria has the third highest unemployment rate at 33%, while South Africa has the highest rate among at least 82 countries. According to the report, South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 34.4% in the second quarter from 32.6%. Tackling unemployment through information technology is our focus on the show for today. Welcome to Business Insights and Plus TV Africa. I am Justin Akadone. First off, President Mohamed Buhari has welcomed with delight the 2021 second quarter report of the National Bureau of Statistics showing a third consecutive quarter of positive growth of Nigeria's economy, as well as the highest quarterly growth in gross domestic products since 2014. This was contained in a statement by the Special Advisor to the President on media and publicity Femi Adeshana, titled President Buhari Loads GDP 5.01% growth in QTO 2021. Other stories include in food security, oil prices also made headlines this week. Take a look. On Monday, the House of Representatives Committee on Finance rejected the 1.33 Leon Naira, projected by the Nigerian customs service as revenue to be generated in 2022 fiscal year. The Comptroller-General of Customs, Mr Hamid Ali, had in his presentation at the ongoing public hearing on the 2022-2024 medium-term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper, disclosed that the agency is projecting a revenue of 1.33 Leon Naira for 2022. According to him, they came up with a figure that's realizable with the hope that it will be so passed. Nigeria has the third highest unemployment rate at 33.3%, while South Africa has the highest rate among at least 82 countries. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. According to the report, South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 34.4% in the second quarter from 32.6%. The report said Namibia has the second highest unemployment rate rises at 33.4%. The Central Bank of Nigeria recorded a short fall of 378.5 billion Naira in loan repayments by beneficiaries under the anchor borrower's program in six years. Data obtained from the findings that Apex Bank have shown. And between November 2015, when the ABP scheme was introduced and November 2020, the CBN executed a total of 2.3 million projects under the program and disbursed 497.2 billion Naira to farmers. However, data obtained from the CBN's fourth quarter 2020 economic report showed that only 118.7 billion Naira had been repaid by the beneficiaries within the review period. On Wednesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation provided a base crude oil price scenario in the medium term stating that the commodity was pegged at $57 per barrel for 2022. Group managing director N. M. P. C. Mellah Kiari, who disclosed these in a statement issued by the family in Abuja, also said the base oil price for 2023 was $61 per barrel. Kiari explained that the assumptions were arrived at after a careful appraisal of the three-year historical dated Brent oil price, average of $59.07 per barrel, premised on-plat sports prizes. Nigeria's gross domestic product GDP grew by 5.01% year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2021, marking three consecutive quarters of growth following the negative growth rates recorded in the second and third quarters of 2020. And this is according to the recently published GDP report released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The steady recovery observed since the end of 2020 with the gradual return of commercial activity as well as local and international travel accounted for the significant increase in growth performance relative to the second quarter of 2020 when nationwide restrictions took effect. Welcome back. Recently the National Bureau of Statistics released a statistics on unemployment for the second quarter of 2020 after a long hiatus since the third quarter of 2018. The percentage of unemployed people stands at 27.1%. The last report which was released in 2018 showed the rate at 23%. Apparently within two years the unemployment rate in Nigeria rose by 4%. This points to, among other things, the fact that President Mohamed Buhari's social and welfare programs for the unemployed and less privileged which are touted in various fora as a panacea to the perennial unemployment problem in Nigeria have not been effective. Joining us on Business Insights today is the CEO Gloom Business Connections, Anya Ifunanya. I will be speaking on Bridgend unemployment gap through ICT. Many thanks for joining us Anya on this segment. We do appreciate your time. Thank you for having me. Alright, now Nigeria has the third highest unemployment rate at 33.3% while South Africa has the highest rate among at least of 82 countries. What does this tell on our economy? As the most populous black nation in the world, we nation filled with talents, potentials. It's appalling to say that our nation is ranking actually the second in the unemployment rate according to Bloomberg on the global list. But that is what it is. At this point we have even surpassed South Africa on this list. It is very clear that the issue we face in the area of unemployment in Nigeria, the number of people looking for jobs will keep on rising as the population growth continues. Imagine each year over 50,000 graduates are released to the labour market adding to millions that are already existing there waiting to be placed to practice their professions or skillset. This has remained this way because of the nation. Because as a nation, we lack the availability of the right platform to tackle the level of unemployment rates we are experiencing or one that has the capacity to house the skilled individuals in both the formal and informal sector of the economy. In 2014, if you remember, we experienced the Nigeria immigration recruitment tragedy where a mass of population troops out with the aim of being employed but there was less opportunity compared to the number of people that needed a job. Now, we have the resident doctors on strike. We have doctors getting job offers from even Saudi Arabia and different skilled individuals who should be here getting out of the country. This is simply because there is not a lot of opportunities available for us here, over them here. Nothing about this or being in this position as a country is good for us. The system we know and have will not altogether help us get to the level we should be at. According to the United Nations, Nigeria is expected to be the world's third most populous country in 2050 with over 300 people. Being in the ICT sector, it is important to have in mind the goal and target and target the issue. And the target issue we need to solve in whatever technology platform we are developing. This is why as a platform company, we've developed a platform bloom, a digital workspace platform that is developed to bridge the gap faced with unemployment in the nation. So thank you. Alright, Ifonanya. Lately, uncertainty made pervasive by insecurity has been cited by business leaders as a major depressing factor in the performance of the economy and a blight on investment outlook. Do you agree? Yes, of course. It's a very depressing factor. Insecurities constitute serious threats to life and properties, as we know. It obstructs commercial activities. It will always discourage local and foreign investors, always. All this will suppress Nigeria and social economic growth. Foreign investment can only happen when there is proper policy to support it. And even a local side, we need to ensure that our people are also well taken care of by providing our people with a digital platform to encourage and boost transactions and connection. This is what our platform here bloom is here to solve, enabling our market and industry to reach even the global audience, thereby encouraging business growth. This on its own can boost investment. We need to accelerate the pace of economic growth by increasing an economic... Hello? Alright, I just wanted to chip in now. You are involved in the ICT sector, and it is believed that it is one of the ways forward to tackling unemployment. How can we achieve this level of getting the young people employed through ICT? Every day we wake up, we see a continuous advancement in technology, transforming the world into the global community driven by data and platform technology. The world of work is gradually, at this point, tilting fully towards individual and corporate entities' ability to seamlessly connect, buy, sell, deliver, services and transact remotely on digital platforms. We now have a rise of the gig economy. To explain what this means, it's a labour market which is characterized by short-term contracts of freelance workers, buyers, sellers, independent contractors, online platform workers, on-call workers and temporary workers. Just last year, we experienced the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we saw how it led to the loss of jobs around the country. And this also even led to the rise of freelance work. So digital platforms are increasingly playing a key transformative role in the world economy. And this is inevitable. So GLOM platform provides a digital platform that focuses on connecting people and market to facilitate transaction between producers and consumers of goods and services. It has the capacity to accommodate millions of people who are skills and are looking for the platform to grow. Irrespective of whatever sector you fall under, we are definitely ready to close the gap in the unemployment sector, of unemployment in the industry. As a company, I can say we have all kinds of staff. Even currently, we have all kinds of staff in the system. We have those who work from nine to five. We have those who work remotely or flexibly freelancers from this digital platform. So I can say categorically that the ICT industry, if you know or you have a target, especially when it comes to knowing what you want to fix, you have the capacity to build a platform that will bridge this gap. And that is what we are here to and what we've done so far. All right, let's move on now. ICT leads sectoral contribution to GDP with over four trillion narrow in the first quarter of this year. Well, some would say that is some cherry news. However, what you see in Nigeria is where it should be in the committee of nations when we speak of trends and of course investment in ICT globally. No, we're not there yet, but I can see this for a fact that we are very much on track because if you compare the Nigeria we have today with the Nigeria we had back then, you see that we have a lot of advancement in technology lately. So we have leading softwares available for use. We have digital platforms, telecommunications and a whole lot of this technology tools available to individuals both in the workspace or for personal use. So gradually we'll get there. We are not there yet, but I would say we have a good improvement when it comes to this. All right, let's still talk about opportunities in ICT. For many people who may have left the university and they're trying to grapple with the fact that there are no page jobs readily available. If you were to advise for someone who is just leaving school, what would that advice be? Vis-a-vis making something for themselves without having to look for the regular white collar job. What can you do as a school leaver in terms of ICT to build yourself and of course the economy of Nigeria generally? Okay, I would say you need to identify your skills and what is your capability of delivering. That will actually help you in identifying where you need to be fitting or placed in. So even though we don't really have so much opportunities when it comes to platforms to showcase these skills, you can see every day that even with the little knowledge or the little opportunities, people are actually making a way for themselves. So I would just say you look deep and know what skills you have and see how you can use it to contribute to their economy. Alright, still on ICT and economic development right now. When we talk about Lagos, what first comes to mind is the computer village where it's like a hub. We don't have many of such places across Nigeria. I know we have one of them in Abuja, but do you really see Nigeria going to that particular extent where there will be several hubs when it comes to ICT and the market readily available for all of Africa and indeed the world to come and patronize? Yes, yes. So like I said, we are in a world where in the present time where technology advancement is everything we see. You have people getting in touch with people outside the country far and wide more than we had before. So this is to show you the growth and the extent to which technology is coming into Nigeria and it's very important that we recognize it and identify that this is actually something that is inevitable. So when it comes to ICT hubs popping up in other parts of the country, aside from Lagos and Abuja, I think that is something that we should see or look out for soon. Okay, other final notes just before we'll let you go now. Most of the times what we do in Nigeria, specifically in Lagos, I still talk about the computer village for instance is processing repairs and of course installation. Do you see at a time maybe in the next three to five years where Nigeria can actually begin to manufacture not just for local consumption but for international consumption devices and of course other tech that could be used on the day-to-day activities in personal lives and of course businesses? Yes, I would like to hope so because as a country we actually have a lot of talent here and this is talent, these are talents that we need to harness. It's very important that we actually get to a stage where we are able to develop or create devices which can be used locally and even internationally out of the shores of Nigeria. For software, I can say we are already doing that for hardware. I'm really, really hoping that we'll be able to get to that level. It might not be as soon as five years but I know with the level of technical knowledge and skills we have currently that we are gradually moving to that level. Alright, many thanks Anya. We appreciate your time for sharing your input with us on the show this evening. Many thanks once again. Thank you. Alright, we have been looking at bridging the unemployment gap in Nigeria through ICT. Away from all of that now, in Nigeria, why is it that so many businesses fail while so few succeed? Once a business begins to see a downturn, many business owners think it is time to sell the business or stop completely. Accepting that your business is failing is always a difficult thing to do. Is your business showing signs of distress or is it straight up tanking? Here are five ways to revive a dying business. Five ways to revive a dying business. Is your business showing signs of distress or is it straight up tanking? There are simple measures you can take to bring it back from the break. Your business might be dying but it doesn't have to mean it's over. Here are five things you can do to save your dying business and also help it thrive. One, evaluate your situation honestly. Before facetions treat a patient, they do all kinds of tests and make a diagnosis. So when you realize that your business is in serious trouble, stop. You need to take a good head look at your company to evaluate and access what's going wrong. You can't take action without knowing where to start. Second, rethink your strategy. The way you think about your failure is key to your success. After reevaluating your company, chances are you have found where you went wrong and you're ready to redefine and rethink your strategy. You have decided not to give up and you are determined to succeed. This is a great step in reviving a dying business but it's also a hard one. Three, focus on your people. You may think that the problem is in your software, hardware or your data but the best business are the ones that run with soul. Your most important asset are your people, your employees. When your company seems to be falling, reevaluate not just your strategy but those who need to execute it. If necessary, get rid of those who are slowing you down and hire those who will help you revive your dying business. Four, let go of pride and fear. Rather than playing the blame game which will get you nowhere, successful CEOs and business leaders know that admitting their faults and showing genuine humility will help rebuild and rebuke the organization. When business leaders are willing to change or stick to preconceived ideas of what they think will work, it is a recipe for disaster. And five, don't lose your passion. Now, passion is what made you start your business in the first place and it will help you to keep going. Passion may not always come with the voice of reason or it may be the feel you need to reignite that fire. So you see, your business can actually thrive. I trust those tips have been insightful and useful. You will be able to be out of the world to be just ticked to some of them. And that's the size of the show for this week. I am Justin Akadone. Many thanks for watching.