The erstwhile governor of Anambra state, Mr. Peter Obi, has said that Nigeria’s unemployment figure will increase by about 10 million to 50 million due to government’s failure to adequately plan before embarking on the lockdown.
Africa’s most populous country has been on a month-long total lockdown in most states, until May 4, when the government partially eased the lockdown due to its economic implications.
The country was already struggling with an unemployment level which was at 23.1% in 2018, representing over 40 million unemployed people in a country of over 200 million.
In an interview with AIT MoneyLine with Nancy, Obi, who was the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections, said that the country’s unemployment rate would worsen due to lack of careful planning before the lockdown.
“When we went for the first lockdown… We didn’t plan properly to be able to put in place the stimulus to manage the process. That was why within the first three weeks people had reached the limit of their sacrifice. People were almost dying of hunger,” Obi said.
“If we are going to do a lockdown, we need to sit down and do a comparative study with other nations and put in proper palliatives. We have 40 million underemployed and unemployed persons and 82 million living below poverty level. If you take this and look at what is happening in other countries, you can imagine the number of people we need to plan for, before we lock down.
He said in advanced countries with proper economic plans, the unemployment rate had increased due to the pandemic, adding that in Nigeria’s case, “With forty million as a starting point, there is no way we will not get to 50 million (unemployed and underemployed). So if you are going for a lockdown, you plan for at least 40 million,” he said.
Obi however added that “Nigeria must follow the development model that works for everybody. We must invest in education, in health and our Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. These sectors are currently underfunded.”
