Unemployment: Peter Obi Reveals Cause Of Crisis In Nigeria

Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi on Monday claimed that 80 million Nigerians are unemployed.

He further stated that there would be no way people are living in poverty and there won’t be a crisis in the country.

According to Obi, more people are living in poverty in Nigeria than in China and Egypt combined.

Obi described Nigeria as an unproductive country, adding that 70 per cent of the unemployed in the country are youths who are in their productive age.

The presidential candidate stated this while speaking at a one-day international colloquium in Port Harcourt organised by Christ Church for the presidential candidates.

Obi said, “There is no way you will have 100 million people living in poverty and you will not have crises, we have more people living in poverty than China and Egypt combined, a population of about 1.5 billion.

“There is nowhere you won’t have this crisis we are going through with 35 to 40 per cent unemployment rate. When compared to the 120 million people who are supposed to be working in Nigeria today, only 40 million are gainfully employed.

“We have 80 million people who are supposed to be working in the country that is not working.

“The consequence is that we have a state but it is unproductive. Nigeria as a country is unproductive because when we talk about 80 million people that are not working, about 70 per cent of them are made up of the youth in their productive age doing nothing and with so many tendencies.

“The country is not doing anything, is not working. All the country is doing today is sharing. Everybody is looking for what to share.

“Last year virtually all the money we spent was borrowed. In the first five months of last year, our total revenue was N1.847 trillion. We spent N1.802 trillion into servicing debt, so a total of 200 million people were left with 45 billion.”