THE Ooni of Ife Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has said that Nigerian youths, who make 70 per cent of the country’s population, are angry with the state of the nation and hungry at the same time.
The Yoruba traditional ruler, who spoke alongside the leadership of the National Assembly and other traditional leaders at a National Security Summit in Abuja on Thursday, lamented that the youths have been neglected from strategic and key policy areas in the country.
Ogunwusi, also lamented that politicians only remember the youths when they want to perpetrate violence and anarchy during elections, noting that the youth must be productively and positively engaged for Nigeria to overcome its current woes engaged.
“On average, the age of each one of us here is between the bracket of 50 and about 60, the early 60s. And anybody can challenge me if I’m wrong. Our dear country that has brought all of us together here, the youngest governor is only 46 years old,” he said.
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“We all know the demography of this country. The demography of this country is above 50. All the way to the age of dependency is less than 30 per cent. But between the age of 18 to under 40, we have them in numbers of more than 70 per cent.
“And we are talking about security here. Who are the active participants whenever we have a breakdown of law and order? It is the average age of 18 to 39. That’s the truth.
“Let us tell ourselves the truth, they are hungry, and they are angry. I repeat, they are hungry, and they are very angry.”
He stressed that leaders are only concerned about talking without showing commitment that would better the lots of Nigerian youths.
The Ooni agreed with Nigerian Senate President Ahmed Lawan that the local governments in Nigeria, which could have effectively engaged the youths on insecurity matters, had been completely rendered useless due to lack of funding and due process.
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