By Samuel Oyadongha
YENAGOA — A group of over 43.9 million unemployed Nigerians under the aegis of the National Council for the Unemployed, NCU,  has tasked the  Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,  to review its engagement strategy in recruiting ad-hoc staff for the 2011 elections to include the unemployed graduates in the country.
The group warned that failure to include the unemployed may lead to the boycott by members from the registration and electoral processes.

INEC, according to the group, should know that the unemployed constitute over 62 per cent of the youths in the country and the umbrella body,  NCU is registered with the Ministry of Labour and Productivity and an arm of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC.

It noted that its decision to ask for the inclusion of unemployed youths, was to ensure their inclusion in the business of governance and the development processes.

In a statement yesterday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the group said that the call by the unemployed youths for their inclusion in the electoral processes was a call to duty and to ensure a corruption-free exercise and empowerment to the youths.

“The voters registration exercise will also go a long way to ensure that a correct data of the nation’s unemployed youths is captured for development purposes. It will help provide the government with relevant data to ensure a social security system to be put in place and ensure that the electoral fraud is blocked.”

It noted that the task before the authorities of the INEC was dual and targeted at ensuring development and guard against issues of kidnapping and other violent crime in parts of the country.