INTRODUCTION
As history would have it, Nigeria as a
nation has experienced several forms of economic, political and social unrest.
In recent times, unemployment which is caused by individuals and government
forces had joined the list of the social evils we experience in Nigeria today.
The issue of unemployment has become a world-wide phenomenon demanding for
increased attention, though the impact is more devastating in developing nation
(Wamukonya, 2003). According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2012),
Nigeria rate of unemployment stand at 19.7%. In fact, Feridum and Akindele
(2006); George and Oseni (2012); Ezie (2012) and Ede, Ndubisi, and Nwankwo
(2013), identify unemployment as one of the major challenges confronting the
Nigeria-economic development. The menace of unemployment in Nigeria both now
and in the recent past has been an issue of great concern to the economists,
policy makers, economic managers, individuals, government and many others
(Bello, 2003). This earliest thinking on economic issues did not fail to give a
central point of reflection on the undesirability of unemployment (Njoku and
Ihugba, 2011). Unemployment has been defined as a situation where people who
are willing and capable of working are unable to find suitable paid employment
(Fajana, 2000). The same writer went further to say that, the higher the rate
of unemployment in an economy, the higher the level of poverty and associated
welfare challenges.
However, the number of people in any
country is divided into two groups; the economically active and the
economically inactive. According to Njoku and Ihugba (2011), the economically
active group (Labour force) are the group that are willing and able to work,
including those actively engaged in the production of goods and services
(employed) and those who are not employed. On the other hand, the economically
inactive group refers to neither people who are not looking for jobs nor those
who are not capable enough as a result of health related issues. To further
buttress this, International Labour Organisation (ILO) define the unemployed as
numbers of the economically active population who are without work but
available and seeking for work, including people who have lost their job and
those who have voluntarily left work (World Bank, 1998).
The menace of unemployment is
geometrically increasing and the effects falls heavily on the economic
development of this nation (Nigeria). Njoku James, Eze (2011) noted that
consequences of unemployment in Nigeria is not only that it has increased the
rate of crime in the country, but has also affected the economic development of
Nigeria. They stress further, that individuals who were meant to be economically
active and contributing towards the economic development of the country are not
be active in such work. This work
therefore, considered to study the effect of unemployment on the economic
development of Nigeria, using Nkanu West Local Government Area as a case study.
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