Former Federal Capital Territory minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, on Thursday bemoaned the spate of unemployment in the country, saying despite his connections, he had yet to secure jobs for his two daughters, who are both holders of Masters Degrees.
El-Rufai said this while delivering a lecture at the Sixth Annual Alao Aka-Bashorun Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch.
The former minister, whose lecture was entitled Impunity, Injustice and Insecurity: What Role for the Law,’ said Nigeria needed to create three million jobs yearly to tackle its employment problem.
He said, “Forty-two per cent of Nigerian youths are unemployed.
“I have two daughters with Masters Degrees and they are unemployed. They have been at home for more than a year and I cannot get a job for them.
“We are sitting on a demographic time bomb and unless we have visionary leaders that are able to plan for the future, we will have a huge problem.”
According to him, the Nigerian government is spending N2bn daily on security, instead of investing in infrastructure and human capital development.
El-Rufai queried the N100bn Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government, saying it had not solved the problem of pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
He said, “Our oil production output is at its lowest since 2009 as a result of oil theft and closure of facilities by oil companies.
“That is why the government is borrowing more than ever and dipping into the nation’s foreign reserves.”
The former FCT minister added that granting amnesty to people who take up arms against the state would not solve the problem of insecurity in Nigeria.
“Even if you grant amnesty to Boko Haram, without addressing the fundamental issues such as lack of opportunities, poverty and social injustice, it will not solve the problem,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Prof. Akin Oyebode, advocated life imprisonment for corrupt public officials as a way of reducing the high incidence of corruption in the country.
His lecture was entitled, ‘Corruption and Insecurity in the Society: What Role for the Law?’
THE PUNCH
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