Insecurity caused by Buhari’s jobless economy, Fayemi admits

Ekiti governor Kayode Fayemi says the spate of insecurity in Nigeria is a consequence of unemployment.

Although Fayemi did not name the Muhammadu Buhari government as a major driver of the current state of unemployment, he did admit the poor economy is driving insecurity.

Speaking at the programme ‘Financing Safe Schools’ on Tuesday, Fayemi said Nigeria needs to do more to address insecurity in the country.

The governor said there is a need for a coordinated response to unemployment and addressing the socio-economic effects on citizens.

“Even when we do all that is required of us, that is, stemming the tide of the problem of insecurity, brigandage, I think we need to look at the broader socio-economic response,” he said.

“It is good to be tough on crime. We must be tougher on the causes of crime. You cannot have a 33 per cent unemployment rate in any country and not expect to deal with the sociological implication of that. And that is an area that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum believes we must also work collaboratively with our partners, also work with our financial institutions and private sector in order to find the best mechanism to bring our youth to work.

“If we do that, we would have fundamentally played our role in addressing the causes of this untoward crisis that the country is dealing with.”

Also speaking on how insecurity has affected schoolchildren, Pauline Tallen, minister of women affairs, said Nigerians need to speak out against the “disturbing trend”.

“Since 2014, it has been one incident after the other. We’ve been battling with out-of-school children, ensuring that we reach out and increase advocacy for our children to be in school,” Tallen said.

“But with the insecurity, what has happened in Zamfara, Kagara, Kaduna has created so much fear in the minds of parents. And if parents are scared of sending children to schools, where do we run to?

“Education is the greatest hope, life, wealth, and power. I call on all of us to be ambassadors, vanguards of speaking out, of giving the right information to our security chiefs.

“Government alone cannot do all. It is an emergency on our hands.”