Youth council attributes crimes to unemployment
NAN-HG-4
Youth
Birnin Kebbi, Nov. 22, 2016 (NAN) The National Youth Council (NYC) has attributed youth restiveness and crimes to rising unemployment facing majority of the youth nationwide.
Mr Abdurrahaman Manga, the North West Zonal Vice Chairman of the council, said this at a news conference in Birnin Kebbi on Tuesday.
He said about 80 million of Nigeria’s estimated population are youth but majority of them have graduated from schools without employment.
While noting that the burden was too much on government, Manga however urged the government to fashion out modalities of addressing the menace of unemployment.
“An unemployed youth is a time bomb,’’ the NYC leader said.
He called on government at different levels to implement their budgetary allocations with a view to create job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth.
Manga also called on public officers to be considering the youth on political appointments and other relevant positions.
He said most of the youth were engaged in crimes like insurgency, drug abuse, cattle rustling, kidnapping and vandalism of national assets because of unemployment.
The NYC vice chairman identified anger, frustration, unemployment and poverty as some of the factors responsible for high rate of crimes among the youth.
He called on the legislature to enact a law that would check the issue of political violence as according to him some politicians were using the youth as cannon powder to foment crimes.
But Manga commended the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari on his efforts at curtailing corruption and insurgency, saying “we should continue to pray for his success’’.
Besides, the youth leader appealed to clergymen to avoid hate preaching, promoting religious sentiments and intensify efforts on issues that would solidify the unity and tranquility of the nation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the NYC conducted elections into its various elective offices nationwide in August this year. (NAN)
BKD/MST/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola