Lagos | Tuesday
THE Nigerian government on Monday began to take a census of unemployment in the country, covering both the jobless and the underemployed, officials said.
The exercise by the Labour Ministry’s National Directorate of Employment (NDE) will last a week.
Centres have been opened in offices across the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, the federal capital, for unemployed and underemployed people to register, they said.
Five centres have been opened in each of the country’s 774 local government councils for the exercise, they also said.
“There is no country that can develop an effective policy without necessary data and statistics,” a top NDE official said on television.
“This exercise is to prepare the statistics that is so essential to effective planning to respond to the problem of unemployment,” he added.
A report will then be submitted to government at the end of the exercise. Nigerian officials admit that the country does not have an accurate census of the unemployed.
Even the size of the population – estimated at around 120-million – is not known for sure. A new population census is supposed to take place next year. The results of the last census, in 1991, are disputed. – AFP