A community leader in Surulere, Lagos State, Chief Abdulfatai Adefemi, on Wednesday urged government at all levels to step up employment of the youth in the country, to make them meaningfully engaged.
Adefemi, the Baale of Taanmeda Aguda, told newsmen in Lagos that government must intensify youth employment and empowerment programmes to keep them off vices.
He said that such a step was imperative, especially in a pre-election year, to avoid making unemployed youth susceptible to being used negatively by some politicians.
The community leader implored politicians to stop using youths for thuggery during elections, but to assist them to be better people.
Adefemi said that youth employment and empowerment would also help to check the spate of cultism in the country.
He said that a youth was killed in his community recently in a clash between rival cult groups and such killings could be avoided if youths are meaningfully engaged.
“In my community, many youths are not doing anything. I want the government to empower the youth, so that their minds would be busy,’’ he said.
According to him, some youth in his community who have managed to acquire skills are unable to get finance to get equipment they need for their trade.
Adefemi urged the government to give take-off grants to such start-ups to enable them to stand on their own and grow to become employers of labour.
He also implored the local government to help with the drainage system in his community, Aguda, to prevent flooding.
“I want the local government to help us to remove the dirt in the drainage, as we’re now in rainy season, so that the water will flow to the canal,” he said.
Adefemi appealed to the local government workers not to leave the dirt packed out of gutters nearby, so that they would not be pushed back in after rainfall.
He commended the Lagos State Government for fixing major roads in Aguda and making life easier for motorists.
NAN
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