Group sees kidnapping as product of insecurity
The President of
the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Olawale Ajani, says the
spate of kidnapping in the country is caused by insecurity.
Mr Ajani told the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that kidnapping is
like gambling, saying it is now the business of the day.
“When you kidnap
and you are given ransom, somebody looks at it and says this is good
business, what does it take to kidnap? If it had been discouraged at
inception, it would have been curbed by now,” he said.
He said NYCN was opposed to kidnapping or any action which could aggravate the security situation in the country.
” We have talked
about kidnapping and insist that young people should not engage in it;
this gives a bad image to our country,” he said. Mr Ajani said that the
country needed to engage its youth in order to curtail the menace of
kidnapping. He said NYCN would soon launch a platform which would
enable youth to get information that would be useful to them in the
pursuit of their goals.
” We are working on
developing our strategic plan to guide us on what we will implement in
the next two years. We are working with UNFPA because we are looking at
the area of reproductive health, HIV/AIDS among others,” he said.
He also called for
youth participation in governance, saying “our leaders should give
young people more opportunities in governance.
” They should not
see us as future leaders, we are partners in today’s development of
this country and they should give us opportunities,” he added.
Mr Ajani also urged
the federal government to devote more funds to youth programmes through
the Ministry of Youth and Social Development.
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