By Uzair Adam Imam
Hundreds of job seekers from different parts of Nigeria trooped into Kano State Thursday to jostle for the West African Examinations Council (WEAC) jobs.
The examination body was hiring assistant registrar, accountant, quantity surveyor, registered builder and network administrator, among other posts.
The job seekers sat for a computer-based aptitude test organized by the examination body at a CBT centre along Gwarzo Raod in Kano.
Unemployment is one of the lingering issues currently flogging the Nigerian graduates, making it a serious challenge, especially to the government.
A recent Bloomberg report shows that unemployment in Nigeria has surged to the second-highest on the global list, jumping to 33.3%.
Unemployment alarming
Musa Musa Dangwangwani, surprised by the number of applicants who trooped into the state to sit for the CBT, said the unemployment rate in the country is alarming.
Dangwangwani, an applicant from Katsina State, said, “Despite the high unemployment rate, job opportunities are very scarce. I’m therefore pleading with the government to provide job opportunities in the country.
Another applicant from Kogi State told our reporter that the issue of unemployment in Nigeria is seriously killing graduates, urging the government to do the needful to mitigate the problem.
‘The future is bleak’
“We have a lot of graduates out there that already lost hope. If you speak to them about any job opportunity, they will tell you they don’t want to apply for any because they are rigged out.
“One has to have a godfather before he secures a job now. But I have been trying my best. Wherever I heard of any opportunity, I apply, believing that one day I will succeed,” Dangwangwani said.
A female applicant from Kaduna State, who did not want her name in print, said the gathering was suggestive of the country’s high unemployment rate.
She said, “The way people gathered here tells me about the high rate of unemployment in the country. The government needs to do something to end this issue.
“Government should revive the number of factories shut down over the years. I think that will really help.
I lost my job due to insecurity – Applicant
An applicant from Bauchi State told The Daily Reality how he lost his job to the security challenge in Nigeria.
He said that was the reason he was now seeking another job.
He said, “I had my business. I’m a network engineer. My job was to provide internet service to the people mining in the bushes, but because of the current insecurity in the country, we can’t risk our lives; thus, I am jobless now.”
The Daily Reality recalls that professionals have argued that there is a need for urgent intervention to save the country from an impending danger posed by the exponential increase in unemployment.
