The national leader of the All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has asked the Federal Government to recruit 50 million youths into the Nigerian Army in a bid to oust the insurgents and miscreants threatening the nation’s peace.
Tinubu stated this while addressing guests at the 12th colloquium organised in his honour.
The insurgents and bandits, according to the former Lagos State governor, are taking advantage of the high rate of unemployment in the country and are recruiting the youths to indulge in their criminal activities.
While adding that drafting the youth into various national security agencies should not be based solely on educational qualification or literacy, Tinubu emphasized that Nigeria is currently under-policed.
He stated:
We are under-policed and we are competing with armed robbers and bandits to recruit from the youths who are unemployed- 33 per cent unemployed?
Recruit 50 million youths into the army, what they will eat- cassava, corn, yam, will grow here.
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Don’t talk about illiteracy, anybody who can hold a gun, who can handle a gun, who can cock and shoot is technically competent to repair a tractor in the farm.
At the Kano event which also served as a celebration of the APC Chieftain’s 69th birthday, he urged the government to create opportunities in agriculture to stem the unemployment rate.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have reacted to the statement of the APC stalwart with many firing missiles at him.
According to them, Tinubu’s statement is part of a ploy to rid the nation of its strength- the youth, and pave the way for further mismanagement of the country’s resources.
Making their voices heard on microblogging platform, Twitter, they advised the former Lagos governor and his associates to send their children to serve in the army if they actually means well for Nigeria and Nigerians.
In the meantime, they reminded him that the Nigerian Army has failed to cater for the welfare of the current figure of soldiers let alone 50 million personnel.
