The Impact of Unemployment on Criminal Activities
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the study
The main objective of this study is to access the impact of unemployment on criminal activities in Cross River State.
Specific objectives are:
- To examine the extent in which unemployment rate impact on criminal activities in Cross River State.
- To access the relationship that exists between unemployment and poverty in Cross River State.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
THE CONCEPT OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Like others in the fields of human endeavour unemployment has received various definitions and descriptions. This is because human beings view things from different perspectives. Therefore, this sub-section is meant to review some of the definitions of unemployment given by scholars and then, try to agree on working definition the same
Every economy is characterized by both active and inactive populations. The economically active ones are referred to as the population willing and able to work, and include those actively engaged in the production of goods and services and those who are unemployed. The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines the unemployed as numbers of the economically active population who are without work but available for and seeking work, including people who have lost their jobs and those who have voluntarily left work (World Bank, 1998).
Similarly, the National Bureau of statistics (NBS) defines unemployment as the proportion of labour force that is available for work but did not work for at least 39 hours in the week preceding the survey period (Central Bank of Nigeria Annual Report, 2008).
Jhingan (2009) stipulated that unemployment is involuntary idleness of a person willing to work at the prevailing rate of pay but unable to find it. It implies that only those persons are to be regarded as unemployed who are prepared to work at the prevailing rate of pay but cannot find work.
According to Ogboru (2010), unemployment exists where persons capable of and willing to work at the prevailing rate of pay are unable to find work. Stipulating that unemployment must be involuntary, as it excludes the idle, the rich and those on strike who are voluntarily unemployed. Excluding, also those incapable of work as a result of mental or physical disability.
Nevertheless, unemployment is a situation whereby able men and women, willing and capable of work cannot find any due to reasons outside their control as it excludes individuals who are not in search of work. It is one of the macro-economic problems which every responsible government is expected to monitor and regulate. The higher the unemployment rate in an economy the higher would be the poverty level and associated welfare challenges.
TYPES OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Economists, in order to establish and distinguish between the various types of unemployment that exists in any economy, have classified unemployment as including; structural, seasonal, frictional, cyclical, Residual, and disguised unemployment.
Structural Unemployment
Structural unemployment occurs when there is a change in the structure of an industry or the economic activities of the country. This may be because people’s tastes have changed or it may be because technology has outmoded and the product or service is no longer in demand. It is mostly to be found in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. This type of unemployment is due to the deficiency of capital resources in relation to their demand. In other words, structural unemployment results from a mismatch between the demand for labour, and the ability of the workers (Fajana, 2000).
Seasonal Unemployment
This is due to seasonal variations in the activities of particular industries caused by climatic changes, changes in fashions or by the inherent nature of such industries. In the tropical region, ice factories are less active in rainy season because demand for ice is low. Seasonal oriented industries are bound to give rise to seasonal unemployment (Fajana, 2000).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter, research methodology, review the process of the research used in covering and selecting samples from the population of students in Federal Polytechnic Oko.
DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The research design in this work is study design. There are many method of survey research but for the purpose of this work, the researcher used questionnaire method and personal interview.
AREA OF STUDY
The research work is based on Unemployment and Youth Crime in Nigeria using as a case study Cross river; 2010-2015 is the time frame.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
The population of the study consists is Nigeria youths who are unemployed from 2010 – 2015. For the reason 245 members of diverse groups drawn from Cross river which is the case study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
In this chapter data collected for this study is analyzed using simple average and percentage techniques.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION
SUMMARY
No nation can achieve growth in an atmosphere of violent crimes. The role of Nigeria‟s government must include the formulation of policies and laws that could help improve the economic and social wellbeing of its citizens and deter criminality. There is a need to increase jobs through small enterprises and poverty alleviation schemes. Economic growth in Nigeria is not the only solution to curb unemployment as the official statistics illustrate that previous unemployment did not decline economic growth. Other solutions such as the provision of right skills to youth should be given an importance. The study concludes that feeling of deprivation produce frustration and could be expressed through aggression. Therefore if factors that are responsible for youth unemployment in Nigeria are addressed, violent crimes will be reduced.
CONCLUSION
The study investigated the relationship between unemployment and youth crime in Nigeria. It suggests that the increasing wave of criminality which has a devastating effect on the economy is traceable to youth-unemployment. The study empirically substantiated that most people who engage in criminal activities are mostly young persons who complain about hunger and unemployment. The inability of successive governments both military and civilian to provide a window of opportunities in terms of gainful employment lured the youths to criminality. Based on these findings, the study concluded that unemployment has a significant correlation with criminality among the youths in Nigeria.
However, as with all research studies, this study is not without any limitation. Data were collected on perceptional scale from participants. Despite this limitation, the study has offered a good insight into the understanding of youth unemployment and criminality in a reforming and developing nation like Nigeria.
RECOMMENDATION
From the foregoing, the findings of the study have led to the following recommendations. Youth unemployment is a multi-dimensional problem that needs to be addressed on a macro basis. As such, the government should pursue the diversification of the economy with the objective of creating self-employment schemes in the country through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE). Government must also intensify its National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NAOS) to provide unemployed youths between the ages of 15 and 35years with basic vocational skills that are needed in the economy. Microcredit schemes should be facilitated to empower the unemployed youths to go into self-employment enterprise. Support services in terms of entrepreneurial training should be given to them to enhance skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development. Back to land program must be rejuvenated to provide self employment in agriculture for school leavers with college diploma and university qualification in agriculture and allied disciplines. This is to encourage the growth and development of the agricultural sector to be the mainstay of the economy so as to be able to feed the nation, diversify and reduce the over reliance on the oil sector, to the neglect of the agricultural sector. Concerted efforts must be made by government to redesign the secondary and tertiary institutions curriculum to impart young secondary school leavers and university graduates with employable vocational skills that are relevant to the needs of the economy. Education planning must also be structured to take cognizance of self employment and self-sustainability with the possibility of the youths engaging in self-run enterprises. Government must also target the youth intensive sectors such as information communication technology, entertainment and hospitality industries to address the problem of youth unemployment. Unemployment allowance should be paid to youths that have graduated from tertiary institutions without work. This will limit the environmental stress that can predispose them to criminality.
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