Provide jobs for youths, stop negotiating with criminals, Obi tells FG

From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi

Former Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections and former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, has blamed the rising insecurity in different parts of the country on bad leadership and harsh economic realities in Nigeria.

Obi maintained that if the government of the day had sincerely come up with programmes to lift Nigerians out of poverty level through small-scale businesses and job creation for the youths, the insecurity in the country would have been drastically reduced.

He said: “People, especially the youth have the propensity to take to crime when they are exposed to abject poverty occasioned by unemployment and neglect. But the challenges can be addressed with good economic policies and implementation that will give energy to the private sector which will eventually support business growth and generate jobs creation.”

Obi stressed that by having round table meetings with the criminals, the government had indirectly encouraged banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and other forms of security challenges in the country.

“When government begins to call bandits and kidnappers to a meeting, then the end to insecurity is probably not in sight. When people are financially rewarded by the government, and handsomely too, for criminal activities, what makes you think others will not join the business,” he asked.

He said the solution would only come if government could fashion out a workable security arrangement at all levels of government down to the grassroots in addition to creation of employment opportunities.