Unemployment rate in Osun has been reported as the lowest among the states in Nigeria despite the South West state’s little allocation from the federation account.
In 2020, the Osun State Government received N30.63bn of the N7.78tn shared by the Federation Account Allocation Committee to the three tiers of governments in Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The figure represented a 26.44 per cent increase from the N24.22bn it received in 2019.
Further analysis on the data revealed that the state received N3.24bn in September as its highest allocation for the year under review.
In august 2020, its allocation increased by N1.094bn (53.52 per cent) to N3.14bn relative to 2019. This represented the highest difference in allocation received in the year under consideration.
According to a recent data released by the NBS, Osun has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Nigerian unemployment rate jumped from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33.3 per cent in the fourth quarter.
The state’s working age population stands at 3,070,422. While 1,847,205 people are in the labour force, 1,223,218 people are not, the NBS data further disclosed.
Despite Osun being among the last four in the federation revenue allocation table, the state reportedly prioritises development in the education, health, tourism, works, transportation, security and other sectors of the economy.
Through World Bank-assisted funding, the health sector in the state has been reinvigorated with a functional, well-equipped health centre per delineated electoral ward in local council of the state.
A former governor of the Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, said the Osun State government “has taken the guiding principle as an article of faith.”
The former governor, through his media aide, Tunde Rahman, stated, “Governor Adegboyega Oyetola (of Osun) has been doing just that in the last two years. He has demonstrated his financial ingenuity and administrative expertise. With little, the governor has done much. He is quietly but effectively making the difference in the lives of the people.
“The icing on the cake is the recent inauguration of the construction of an international trade centre and inland port in Dagbolu, aimed at turning the area into industrial hub of the state and the South West, and taking maximum advantage of the train infrastructure.”
The number of people looking for jobs in Nigeria is expected to keep rising as population growth continues to outpace output expansion, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The United Nations said that Nigeria was also expected to be the world’s third most-populous country by 2050, with over 300 million people.
