Adamu decries preponderance of lethal arms in hands of Nigerian youths

Success Damian:

Former Senior Special Assistant to the President on Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) Dr Haroun Adamu, has decried the preponderance of lethal arms in the hands of Nigerian youths.

Adamu was speaking as Chairman at the 2019 Discovery Lecture and Presentation of Book which was organized by the Centre for General Nigerian Studies, Lagos State University in Ojo on Wednesday. He said that a situation where lethal arms are in the hands of frustrated youths is a threat to security, and called on government to take urgent steps to curtail the anomaly.

“The preponderance of lethal arms in the hands of frustrated youths is alarming. Government must initiate programmes that would deny or curtail the proliferation of such lethal arms and their use to ensure the security of lives and properties of Nigerians. It has to be noted that all the problems are poverty driven. Government at all levels must endeavour to address these endemic crises through commercialised agriculture, to ensure food security for the nation,” Adamu stated.

Speaking further Adamu proffers vocational training as solution for drop-outs, which must be popularised.  He also stressed that the government must address the perennial rural-urban migration by unskilled youths who are unprepared for living in urban environment.

He said issue of youth unemployment has become a critical issue

“I appeal to government at all levels to take issues of youth unemployment very seriously. The problem is just too serious to be treated with levity or play politics with. What is happening around especially in Lybia, Syria, and other parts of the world are good examples for us to learn from. The universities also have a role to play in this area. They cannot continue to produce graduates for the labour market; rather they must begin to produce job creators and entrepreneurs. Our universities must also relate effectively with industries in order to ensure that students are trained for the jobs that are available,” Adamu appealed.

Speaking on the title of the book ‘Can Nigeria Survive another Century as a Corporate Entity?’ Adamu said “I think Nigeria will survive. The nation survived 30 months of fratricidal civil war in the 60s. We survived several politically induced crises that threatened our collective survival as a nation, and even recently, predictions that the country Nigeria shall cease to exist by 2015 has come and pass uneventfully. The testimony to this is that here we are still as a nation.”

Adamu not minding sounding optimistic still has words of advice for the Nigerian politicians “However we must avoid another civil war at all cost. Our politicians must do the right things. They must be patriotic, putting the nation’s collective interest above personal gains. They must also deliberately take steps towards national healing, integration, inclusiveness and meaningful development instead of actions that are capable of dividing us. We as a nation must ensure the full participation of women in all facets of our national lives.”

Adamu also proposed the dredging of River Niger and River Benue which physically unites Nigeria. “It is hereby proposed that our waterways: River Niger and River Benue which  physically unite this country should be dredged sufficiently to allow the transportation of goods from south to the north and vice versa, stopping in River Ports, giving employment opportunities to our teaming youths and reducing the cost of transportation.”

He said the new technology today has become a veritable means of job creation all over the world. “Governments must therefore intensify efforts to set up factories in partnership with the private sector to manufacture or assemble what the nation truly needs in the computing and communication sector.”