Social security and unemployment in Nigeria

This figure is alarming when viewed against the backdrop of the number of persons currently in the labour force out of the economically active population of 60 per cent (15 to 64 years) in the country’s 170 million people. Unemployment is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment in an economy, which is calculated by […]

This figure is alarming when viewed against the backdrop of the number of persons currently in the labour force out of the economically active population of 60 per cent (15 to 64 years) in the country’s 170 million people.
Unemployment is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment in an economy, which is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals in the labour force.
 This has redirected focus on the introduction of social security for the unemployed. In a recent sensitization workshop organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on ‘Understanding the Right and Obligations in Pensions’ for its state and zonal officials held in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Professor Bem Angwe called for the introduction of social security for the unemployed members of the society.
Angwe says social security protection will ensure that every member of the society-whether employed or not-benefit from the country’s natural resources.
This position is anchored on Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This views Social security as “the action programs of government intended to promote the welfare of the population through assistance measures guaranteeing access to sufficient resources for food and shelter and to promote health and well-being for the population at large and potentially vulnerable segments such as children, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed.”
Social security will therefore include social insurance such as pensions, disability insurance, survivor benefits and unemployment insurance. Most of these services deal mainly on financial contribution by the subscriber designed to cater for their medical care, financial support during unemployment, sickness or retirement.
However, there are basic areas of social security that the government can provide for the citizens in distress or refugee situation irrespective of their participation in any of the programmes listed above. These include: food, clothing, housing, education, cash and medicine.
In this connection, Angwe said developed countries have developed a social security system for both working and unemployed Nigerians.
“It is our responsibility to champion the right of Nigerians. Social security should for working class, unemployed or aged Nigerians must be done. See yourselves as advocates of social security and welfare of Nigerians,” he told the participants of the NHRC sensitization workshop.
Angwe’s call is synonymous with the Federal Government’s National Working Committee on Social Security Policy headed by former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon. At the end of its deliberations in 2009, the panel recommended, among other things, a non-contributory National Social Assistance Scheme which will make it mandatory for Nigerians above the of 65 whether they had worked in the formal sector or not, to be entitled to a fixed sum to help them live above poverty line.
But some analysts have criticized the introduction of wholesale social security without genuine biometric data of the citizens saying it will lead to indolence and wastefulness.
“How many are we in Nigeria? I believe in first things first. Let the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) produce the biometrics of every Nigerian citizen before we can embark on social security,” says Ali Zubairu, an Abuja-based legal practitioner.
Others have argued that the gamut of the Nigerian bureaucracy is designed to serve as social security net. According to them, this explains the delay in the implementation of the Oronsaye Panel’s Report on the restructuring of Federal government’s Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.  The panel recommended the abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 others and the reversion of 14 to departments.
Though the policy would help the country save 70 per cent of its revenue, which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi says is spent on recurrent expenditure including 45, 000 ghost workers, the executive members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria said it will worsen the unemployment rate in the country especially with the lack of social security.
Still others consider this measure as ultimately unsustainable for the country’s economic growth. Simon Ode, an unemployed graduate of Economics says the government should invest in productive ventures that will regenerate itself rather than a bloated service-driven system. He says this will enable most graduates get jobs easily.
The reforms in the pensions system will help in generating employments, says Magnus Ekwueme of the Stanbic IBTC Pensions. He explains that the unemployment rate may have been worsened by the falsification of age by workers. He said this was due to lack of faith in the pension system in the past where people were uncertain about their future. He however explained that with the new contributory system, where the 7.5 per cent is removed from the worker while the employer contributes the balance, many workers are assured of their future in retirement.
Social security may not be the panacea to unemployment in Nigeria, but it could provide the needed relief in the system as the government’s economic growth roadmap continues to create jobs in the various sectors of the economy if well implemented.