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| Nigerian youth protesting |
Research has shown that one of the
main reasons why youths in Nigeria go into crime and involve in other illicit
acts is because of lack of job opportunities. The Bible says, “The idle mind is
the devil’s workshop” hence lack of engagement means the youths will be easily
lured into crime. And rather than government at various levels investing money
into what will create employment for the youth, the governments invest it in weapons
and expand the prisons.
Recently, the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode
launched the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, LNSC with a total of 177 salon
cars and vehicles equipped with communication gadgets, 377 motorcycles, 377
helmets, 4,000 bicycles, metal detectors amongst other operational equipment.
Less
than two months after the safety outfit was launched, people were not only
kidnapped but killed in Ikorodu and other parts of the State, apart from other
crimes that were unreported. The question is, where were the safety corps?
It
appears that Nigerian leaders especially politicians don’t know the reality on
ground. There is no doubt that the more unemployment, the more crime in the
society.
Some
may argue that the safety or security outfit has also created jobs for the youths
but the question they fail to answer is, are the youth fulfilled? Is that the
kind of work they dreamt of doing or are they just doing it because there is
nothing else?
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| Youth corps members |
It
is believed in some quarters that what the governor and others especially the
federal government are doing is a duplication of duty. In a country where there
are Police, Civil Defence, the Military (Army, Airforce, Navy), even
paramilitary like Customs, Immigration, Prisons, National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency, NDLEA, amongst others, always on the street, with private security
guards, Also not forgetting the newly-created Peace Corps which is before the
national assembly.
Even
with the aforementioned, crime rate continue to soar. One would have expected
government at various levels to deploy these men to manage traffic and other
related issues, but instead, some of them spent their time discussing in their
offices, and waiting for the closing time to be on their way home.
All
these are happening in a country where the unemployment rate is high.
Investigation shows that the country spends over N20.62
trillion on National Security in the last five years, amidst claims by the security
agencies that they are being underfunded.
Year after year, the
security sector continues to gulp the highest chunk of the country’s
expenditures. In the 2015 budget for instance, N934billion was allocated for
the security sector, the highest for the year.
A newspaper reported
that the figures for 2011 and 2012 were N920billion and N924billion
respectively while N923billion each was thrown at the sector in 2013 and 2014. Yet,
Nigeria is faced with continued kidnappings, crude oil theft, armed robbery and
other sundry crimes.
It was also discovered that
government at various levels have security votes which are not spent on any security
issue hence these monies go into private accounts unaccounted for and unquestioned.
Year
in year out, various governments purchase vehicles, weapons, gadgets, gunboats,
amongst others for security agencies to fight crimes but they never thought it
wise to invest such money on the youth.
Some
experts opined that rather than purchase gadgets, gun-boats, vehicles and
weapons to kill these youths why not invest the money into things that will
engage them.
Many
of them have business ideas but need little capital to start and they have the
tendency of empowering or engaging others as the business expands. Some analysts
suggest that youths should be deployed to farm and paid even higher than those
in the offices to encourage more people to go into that sector.
By
so doing, more people will pick interest and more crops will be harvested; and that
will lead to food sustainability in the country and might also export some. If products
are exported as they used to be in the past, the exchange rate of foreign
currencies will be affected positively too.
Some
schools of thought argued that the more the youths are engaged, the less the
crime rates in the country. “Government should make loans available to anybody
that needs it not restricted to graduates alone. Some uneducated youths are
better business men than some graduates.
“Government
should also as a priority, give loans to undergraduates or those willing to go
to school and as soon as they start working, they can start deducting the monies
from the persons. It will reduce the level of illiteracy in the country and to
a large extent, reduce crime because it is easy to lure an illiterate than an
educated or enlightened person to crime.
The
NYSC should also include in their scheme, business or self-sustenance education
or skill acquisition programme so that these graduates don’t remain jobless as
they are finishing their service years.
Also,
the idea of government giving N5,000 to individuals will not do this country
any good. It will only create room for laziness, redundancy and low-productivity.
It is better to teach them how to fish rather than give them fish on monthly
basis. A woman started akara (baked beans) business with the sum of N5,000 and
today, she is erecting a building.
Finally,
some experts suggest that rather than invest money into acquiring weapons,
gadgets, vehicles and others on an annual basis to kill the youths and thereby killing
our future, it is better to invest those monies on them, if truly, they are the
leaders of tomorrow.
