Business News
Female unemployment rate in Nigeria rises to 35.2% in Q4 2020
Female unemployment rate in Nigeria as of Q4 2020 increased to 35.2% from 31.6% recorded in Q2 2020.
Female unemployment rate in Nigeria as of Q4 2020 increased to 35.2% from 31.6% recorded in Q2 2020. This is according to the recent labour force report, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
According to the report, a total of 61.63 million women were in the working population (15 – 64 years of age) as of Q4 2020 accounting for 50.5% of the total working population.
However, only 30.15 million of these women were willing and able to work i.e labour force, which represents about 43.3% of the total labour force in the period under review.
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Highlights
- Distributing women in the working population by their age groups, women within the age bracket of 15-24 years were the largest, accounting for 30% (18.48 million) of the total women in the working population.
- Women within 25-34 years followed closely with about 17.98 million being in the working population, while 12.79 million women in the working population were within the age bracket of 35-44 years.
- The numbers however started to drop significantly in the older age ranges as only 7.94 million women in the working population were between 45-54 years of age.
- Similarly, women in the working population between 55-64 years stood at 4.43 million as of Q4 2020.
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It is worth noting that out of the 30.15 million women in the workforce during the period under review, a total of 10.61 million women were unemployed indicating a female unemployment rate of 35.2%. The under-employment rate of women during the period was however lower, standing at 24.2%.
The Q4 2020 female unemployment rate of 35.2% is a rise from the 31.6% recorded as at the last time the labour force report was released by the NBS, although the under-employment rate declined from 31.0% in Q2 2020 to 24.2% in Q4 2020.
A closer look at the numbers showed that women in the labour force fell from 38.63 million in Q2 2020 to 30.15 million in Q4 2020.
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What this means
- The latest unemployment figures show that despite the relatively equal representation of the female gender in the working population, women accounted for just 43.3% in terms of labour force as against 47.7% for males.
- Also, considering the number of fully employed and underemployed labour force, females accounted for 40% and 45.9% respectively.
- Meanwhile, the total number of unemployed females stood at 10.61 million (35.2%) relative to 12.58 million unemployed males (31.8). This shows that more females in the working population in Nigeria are either unable or unwilling to work as at the reference period.
Business
Lagos agricultural sector to generate $10 billion in the next 5 years
The agricultural sector in Lagos state is projected to generate as much as $10 billion within the next 5 years.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has projected that the agricultural sector in the state could generate as much as $10 billion within the next 5 years.
This is as the governor noted that Lagos could no longer afford to rely exclusively on other states for its food, adding that it was time to unlock its immeasurable agricultural potential through the implementation of the 5-year roadmap.
This disclosure was made by the Governor at the formal launch of the state’s 5-year Agricultural and Food Systems Roadmap, on Thursday, adding that most of the investments would be private sector-driven while the government acts as the catalyst and enabler.
Governor Sanwo-Olu opined that the Roadmap would also lead to wealth generation, value creation, food security, the industrialisation of the agricultural sector and the entrenchment of inclusive socio-economic development of the state.
He said that the roadmap essentially focuses on 3 pillars, which are: growth of the upstream sector, growth of the midstream and downstream sectors as well as improvement of private sector participation.
What the Lagos State Governor is saying
Sanwo-Olu, in his words, said, “Our strategies for sustainable Agricultural Development shall focus on three pillars. First, we will grow the upstream sector through interventions by leveraging technologies that are capable of lowering the cost of production of value chains; Focus on growing the midstream and downstream sectors that are of value and lastly, we will improve on private sector participation by developing and initiating policies that will encourage more private investments in agriculture.”
The projection is that the total investment in the Agricultural Sector from the government, private sector, donor agencies and development partners will run into over $10 billion in the next five years. While we expect most of the investment to be private sector-driven, the government will continue to provide the needed infrastructure while the private sector will be encouraged to lead the key projects.’’
The governor pointed out that the state had already started the revamping of its Agricultural Land Holding Authority (ALHA) to support investment in agriculture, giving assurance that the coconut belt would also be strengthened with increased private sector involvement.
Sanwo-Olu listed some State’s landmark investments that will aid smooth delivery of the Roadmap to include the Lagos State Aquatic Centre of Excellence (LACE) that would boost fish production from 20% to 80%, the Imota Rice Mill, the Lagos Food Production Centre Avia, Igborosu-Badagry as well as other statewide agriculture-focused initiatives.
He said, “I am greatly encouraged by the interest already generated in the Five-Year Agricultural Roadmap and I hope it will be sustained and backed with concrete action on the part of our development partners and the international community. I assure you that the Lagos State Government is putting in place deliberate incentives to make your investment safe, secure and profitable.’’
Sanwo-Olu, therefore, urged potential and established stakeholders in the agricultural sector to partner with the state in order to transform the agricultural sector for food security, wealth generation, poverty eradication, economic diversification, rapid industrialisation and accelerated socio-economic growth.
Bottom line
This is a very laudable initiative from the Lagos State Government especially at a time the country is looking at diversifying its economy. The successful implementation of this programme with the expected benefits from the value chain will contribute significantly to the economic development of the state and the country in general.
The investment in the transformation of agriculture to agribusiness is one way of achieving the dream of attaining self-sufficiency in food production and creating more wealth.
Business News
NNPC, SEEPCO sign gas development agreement for domestic market
The execution of the deal is to help reduce gas flaring in the country and a show of NNPC’s commitment to facilitating the country’s transformation into a gas-powered economy.
