If we don’t control our birth-rate, insecurity, crime, restiveness, will continue – Primate Okoh

His Grace, Most Reverend Nicholas D. Okoh is the Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria Anglican Communion. The Hunters’ Editor-in-Chief, CHRIS ONOKPEGU was there when the Primate spoke with our sister publication, CAPITAL WATCH in an exclusive interview. Excerpts:

His Grace, Nicolas Okoh

His Grace, youth restiveness seems to be on the increase compared to what it used to be in the past, what do you think in your opinion is responsible for this?

If you cast your mind back, there was a time it was said that every family should not have more than four children. I don’t know whether you are old enough to know about that there was such a rule that every family should limit themselves to four children, but today we have a country where somebody can have thirty children, even fifty and when you ask the person, he will say what is your concern but it is our concern because we live together.

A situation where one man’s children will fill a classroom, which government can plan for that? Where will you find the resources to cope with such a demand, the family will not be able to cope, the social institutions will not be able to cope, the government too, so it demands everybody limiting himself.

If there is no discipline we are going to crumble, we are going to collapse because the country that has no discipline, including self discipline cannot succeed. This is because food that is meant for four people and if given to twenty people they will have poor standard. But if you give it to the four people for whom it is meant they will have quality food that is the problem in our country. We are shying away of controlling our spirally population, it’s terrible.

What effect do you think this will have on the country?

The side effect of this is that they have no money for the university education and they want to go to the university. The government is forced to say they will go to university free and unfortunately there is no money in abundance which in turns affects the quality of our education. There is no part of the world where everything in the university is free and here in Nigeria, it is used as a political gimmick but in Britain for instance, you go to the university if you are qualified. Yes! The government will pay but it’s a loan. The moment you come out and start working, you start repaying the loan. It’s not given to you free.

As our father, how do you think government can stop youth restiveness?

If the Federal Government wants to attend to this issue of restiveness then they should strengthen the scholarship loan board so that the students will know that they are collecting loans and when you graduate you start repaying it and others will collect from that too. The issue of free money is what is making us highly irresponsible, and it should not be a political campaign issue because they are not meeting it.

If Nigeria wants to control youth restiveness, we should first and foremost control the family size; there is oversize responsibility in all the families. So for you now, I don’t know if you are married but if you are not yet married and when you marry and you have twenty children you are going to have plenty problems but if you limit it to the little that you are earning, it will provide quality life to you and your children and you won’t become a nuisance to government and your society. But as long as nobody is talking about it everybody is free to have as many as you like it is going to be a problem, it is not a question employing damaging birth control, there are many better methods of controlling birth. Even in the days of our forefathers, they had birth control that is acceptable; you don’t have to kill to have birth control.

So, it is possible we can reduce the population rate and be able to provide good environment for our children to grow. If we don’t watch our birth control, crime, restiveness and indiscipline will continue.

Sir, but many of our youths are unemployed especially the ones that spent years in the universities and other higher institutions, don’t you think it is also a contributory factor?

Amongst those people you are saying that are unemployed how many of them actually measure up as graduates? How many of them can write good application letter to get a job? They have passed through schools but schools have not passed through them. It is true they call it unemployment but there are many who are not employable, the government must tackle the problem from the root, not just creating any type of work for people to get engage. No!

The issue is that you do what you are qualified to do. Those that are intellectually capable should be allowed to do intellectual jobs, but those just carrying papers around that they cannot represent should be drafted to something they can cope with.

The Security situation in Nigeria is posing a major challenge. Taking into account the recent bomb explosion in Nyanya Motor Park which claimed many lives with others injured, do you think government and the security agencies are really doing enough to stop the insurgents?

The situation is a problematic one; it is difficult to blame the government because of the situation we have found ourselves. Again, the nation where you have terrorists with no targets, in other words, you cannot rule out anyone, you can rule in anyone, anybody is a target, anywhere is a target, so in this situation the government cannot cope with everything, unless you want the government to detail policeman for everybody which is not possible.

How many are we? Amongst the policemen, we also have those that are disloyal, you will be surprised that in all of these killings, there are people who are insiders who knew about it but they may not want to tell the government and some who know it and can stop it but because, they are disloyal may not want to tell the government. The government is struggling and it is in a very difficult situation.

I take you to Britain again, during the IRA crisis, the Irish Republican Army; even with the technology of the British Government they could not stop the IRA. Bombs were exploding in the streets of London; they were not able to detect it. The terrorist tend to go to areas where nobody is looking at them. For instance, how many policemen can be detailed to secondary schools? If they know that you are watching the schools, they target the markets, if they know that you are going to the market to check the markets, they go to other places where you are not readily there, they go to the motor parks, to the streets, to the roads.

His Grace, what do you think can be the solution?

Firstly, the government should continue to provide the security through the Police, the Army, the State Security Services and other Security Agencies because security is the job of government. They took over power to protect the lives and property of the people, it’s a constitutional role they have to play, but it is much more than that. Politicians should stop playing politics with our security because if there is no country there won’t be governance, if Nigeria disintegrates, politicians will be the first to be affected. So they should stop playing politics with national security, in other countries when there is threat to the government and its unity, people fuse together, they come together, even the oppositions all come together. To fight the insecurity and remain together, they must come together then thereafter partisan politics can continue. So in our country we must learn this when there is a threat to our unity, all other things must stop and the security of the nation becomes the agenda of everyone. This is very important; all government agencies must come out openly to support the government fight terrorism.

Furthermore, the traditional institutions whether in the north or in the south which are more or less government agencies, because they serve and govern the people, they should also show more commitment by mobilizing the grassroots towards achieving safety in their domains, it is not enough for them to be issuing statements as if they are outsiders, they are part and parcel of government because they are looked after by the government. They should show loyalty to government and help them surmount troubles of insurgencies and then the Nigerian people, if you don’t do something about yourself you will die, we must all become security agents and this is where the Civil Defence comes to play, the Nigeria Civil Defence actually ought to be teaching people survival techniques in time of crisis, they should go to community to teach people, for instance, in this country we don’t have siren to alert people when there is crisis, or bunker where people can run in for safety, or where people should run to, this is the work of the Civil Defence. In the event where an alarm is raised, people don’t know what to do but rather you see them running up and down, there should be a way to react under emergency or crisis, that is the work of Civil Defence and not to be struggling with the army or police on duties to be relevant. Their job should be properly defined; when that is properly done, the individuals even the school boys will know what to do. This battle is not the government battle but our battle, if Nigerians keep quite then Boko Haram will destroy them, if Nigerians will not keep quiet Boko Haram will be destroyed.