OLASUPO Ayokunle, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) says terrorists find it easy to recruit due to the high rate of employment in Nigeria.
“When development plans are not executed, you see graduates leaving school without any employment and an idle hand is what the devil can use,” Ayokunle said in Iwo, Osun State.
“Anybody that can give them (graduates) pittance, they are ready to take it and work for them. So, terrorists find it very easy to recruit them because they induce them with money and all other things.”
The CAN president said this while commenting on the insecurity in Nigeria at the investiture ceremony of Micheal Abodunrin, the new Chancellor for Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State on Saturday.
As Nigeria marks her 60th independence anniversary, Ayokunle said the lack of implementation of development plans by the government is a result of poor governance.
“You cannot just look at the security situation in isolation. Insecurity in the country is a by-product of bad governance, the government should be at the forefront of prevention by making infrastructural facilities and welfare available to them.”
According to reports, insecurity in Nigeria has seen a rapid increase in the last decade due to Boko Haram insurgency that has killed nearly 30,000 people and displaced about two million Nigerians.
Aside from Boko Haram, the country has also been plagued with internal crisis including frequent Fulani-Herders clash, bandit attacks among others.
In 2019, the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) ranked Nigeria as the third most terrorised country in the world.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94