 Hello and welcome to the Advocates on Class TV Africa, a Sunday reminder that important conversations are among the necessary tools for a senior society. I will be talking about how an employment contributes to the underdevelopment. Matthew Sizi Bosimi will be talking on decolonising education in Africa. Elijah Felix will be talking about 223 elections in view, lessons from the United Kingdom. Sami Say Chassan will be talking about stories as vehicles for education and social development. Today, expect interesting conversations that will help create a better society. We'll be right back after the break. Welcome back. How under-employment contributes to underdevelopment? Most people complain they cannot get jobs they want. Many people complain about the lack of jobs. But research and data suggests that the real problem is not that those jobs do not exist. The real problem most times is that there is a lack of adequate skills, experience, aptitude and faculty to deliver on the job. Unemployment rates in Nigeria in 2022 is at 33%. Let that sink in. A third of our labour force in Nigeria do not have a decent means of sustenance. Or if you want that in actual numbers, about 23 million people are not in given employment. Let's not even delve into what does to the crime rates, what it does to the general sense of well-being or what it does to a happiness index as a people. Now, let's talk under-employment. First, a brief dichotomy into both concepts. There's a difference between being unemployed and underemployed. To be unemployed means you don't have a job. While to be underemployed means you have a job. But the job you have is inadequate. You know those colleagues of yours that feel that the job they have is beneath them. All the ones that are actually constantly asking for loans by the middle of the month. The country's under-employment rate, that's Nigeria, that's people who work less than 24 hours, 20 hours a week, is also high at 22.8%. If you add all the numbers together, almost half of our labour force are either unemployed or underemployed. What does this point out for Nigeria and Nigerians? On the economic side alone, unemployment increases poverty and disease in the country. It also reduces the national output of goods and services. It increases rural urban migration. It increases debt rates, leads to wastage of resources, and then promotes social unrest. What should we actually do about unemployment or unemployment in Nigeria? An academic journal called The Conversation advocates some effective ideas. Now, they feel we need to address the causative factors. Starting with the policy framework, it has to be more stable. The government must address insecurity so people can go about their normal business. The government will also manage the exchange rate so that imported imputes are cheaper. That will also expand production. It will also create jobs. Nigerians also encourage investment. There's a very low level of deposit rates, and it's unattractive to invest in treasury bills or even other securities. The rates are low and the inflation rate is much higher. So every day, your money actually loses value. The infrastructure for small-scale production, including electricity supply, is poor. People have to now provide their own. If the government does not tackle unemployment or unemployment seriously, the situation will in turn affect development. It's a slippery slope, and it must be dealt with very fast. This is an economic index. I think that's what we're talking about. I think the issue of under-employment and non-employment starts from education. When I was in university, I knew some lecturers that taught some certain professional courses in schools that do not have the capacity to even practice this course. So just imagine what kind of skills they would impute. Or the students who acquire from such kind of lecturers. You are studying engineering in the university. Let me give you an example. You are studying electrical engineering for instance. You don't know how to program single electronics to solve certain problems. In Tokyo, some people can read engineering and come out and not practice engineering. It's possible, but I mean in the larger scale. You are studying engineering, you are studying computer science, you are studying maybe some other courses and you don't even understand the professional process of those courses. Even the lecturers, the lecturers, you don't even... It's not practicing it. So there is no much skill when you go out. You don't see there is a huge gap between the university and the realities in the society. In response to the education thing you were saying, this is what I noticed, it's actually systemic. The problem is not just it didn't start with education, it's systemic. And then it rallies right round back to unemployment and underemployment. Because I remember back in the day in the north when people weren't trained. And then you needed to just have your people in positions. So getting a job was an act of legislation to a point. It wasn't based on merit or qualification. It was like you should be next. So quite a number of people got jobs as lecturers or whatever it is they got job as. Because they needed a job. Especially Kashmint area. Exactly, people needed to have someone there. And they seemed to have a little understanding or little knowledge in that field. They're not really maybe properly qualified engineers or even lecturers. But that's just the only opening there is. So okay, you know what? So you said you worked in the bridge before. When they were building that bridge you were there. And do you want to permit for a circuitry school? Do you know anything about? Yes, I worked in the bridge. There's one lecture there. Take it. I think there should be. Let's take Mr. Potsime. I know you're passionate about education. So what's your opinion on this topic? The whole thing of unemployment. It goes down to what I'm advocating for when I say that there's a dire need for evolution. Because I feel that we are not preparing our students. We're not preparing our learners, you know, for the real life, you know, post school. So one of the things that I say that, you know, as early as junior high school, primary school, we need to teach our children to become entrepreneurs. You know, instead of them, you know, going to school so that they can get employment, we need to equip them with skills so that they can become, you know, job creators. You know, so, and I think like Jackie said, our schooling system is a bit of a problem because now, you know, in our schools, our children are taught to compete instead of collaborating. So now when we finish school, you know, we have people from different fields with different skills. It's really difficult for them to come together and create something because they come from a background whereby they have to compete. I have to be first, you know, I'm the smartest one. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree with you. Fantastic. You know, you brought up a topic or concept that I'm actually very interested in. The fact that we're not teaching children to produce, we're teaching them to consume. It's the problem with Africa, generally. So instead of teaching children or students to go out and actually, you know, create jobs, we train them to go out and look for jobs. So we need to sort of reverse engineer that concept, the concept of education in itself. So people start thinking like producers versus consumers. Well, I think, okay, you guys. Please go on. Sizi, you want to see something? Please go on, Sizi. Okay, thank you. So I was going to say that there should be a handshake between the town and the now, the academic community and the society so that they will be like a real-life application process and appreciation of irrespective of the course you are studying in the university. Now, let me give you an example. It's true that we should learn to be produce production-minded and not more production-minded and less of consumption. I think we should be a balance of boots. Anybody is not wrong if you graduate from the university and your supervisor is to work in a corporate firm or in the whatever sector, private sector, you want to work as an employed person, it's not wrong. Everybody can not produce or be an entrepreneur. In fact, they don't even want to stand in the conservatory. My problem is excuse. The idea of production and consumption is not being an employer or an employee. It's the mindset. Even today, companies are recruiting more intrapreneurs. They want people that think like owners. Intrapreneurs. So you're thinking like an owner, you're thinking like a producer, even as a staff or an employee of a business. You're not thinking, let me just come in and do my bit. You're thinking, how do I move this business forward? So it's your thinking, it's not really... Right. I want to add something about production and consumption. I was going to just pick up maybe the American model, which is a bit different from the Chinese model. I think what they do over there, for instance, is there's a couple of people who are trained or identified and supported to produce. Because we all will be producers. What is important is society is producing enough for itself and enough to actually export or give out. So I think that's what's important. We all will not be producers. We all will be consumers. But the key is some of us should be able to produce enough for all of us. But then I think I still prefer the Chinese model. The American model has worked really fantastically to a point. But I prefer the Chinese model where everybody produces something no matter how little. So we can all still put our hand... For me it's best if we have both systems, a crop of super producers while everybody chips in something. So that we also have more than enough to also export. More than enough. Because we can consume everything anyway. And that's how the nation becomes wealthy. Fantastic. Thanks everyone for excellence in size and analysis all around. Alright, Sizi Bosima is next after the break.