As part of a programme to pacify youths ahead of protests, Nigeria is offering young people jobs with the state oil company and grants worth billions of naira among other incentives, Reuters said.
On Friday, the Nigerian state oil company advertised jobs across the country on platform X for the first time in nearly a decade, despite warning jobseekers seven years ago against falling for fraudulent messages. The flood of applications on the company’s website was so high that it caused the company’s website to crash, said a spokesman for NNPC Ltd.
In addition, Nigeria’s Youth Development Ministry on Friday also relaunched a 110 billion naira ($70 million) youth investment fund, which dates back to 2020 and seeks to provide grants to Nigerian youths to create jobs. Nigerian lawmakers passed a new minimum wage that is more than double the amount the lowest paid worker will earn monthly.
The government and state-owned companies are making these changes amidst the fact of Nigerians organising nationwide online protests next week in response to the cost of living crisis. As the crisis in Nigeria has now reached the point of pushing inflation to a 28-year high of 34.2 per cent following President Boloy Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidies and devaluation of the currency.
The Nigerian activists are trying to replicate youth protests elsewhere in Africa, which shocked the Kenyan government and prompted a violent response from security forces in Uganda. Similar protests in Nigeria would cause significant damage to the country’s economy. They maintain to have the right to demonstrate peacefully, describing the government’s warnings of violence as a smokescreen for potential reprisals.
The government, for its part, demanded more time from the youth to end the difficulties, and police and army leaders have warned against the protests, saying they could get out of hand. Religious leaders, traditional rulers and other officious and prominent citizens have joined the government in dissuading youths from participating in the protests expected to start on 1 August.
