Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on Wednesday berated governors of the 19 Northern states for the rising youth unemployment in the region.The organization drew a link between unemployment and crime, warning that the situation is a time bomb.
ACF lamented that the governors have not addressed the unemployment, in spite of several calls on them to create jobs for the youth.
Its Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman, Shehu Malami, spoke at the second meeting of the board in Kaduna, on the worsening insecurity and the agitations restructuring and secession.
Malami warned that if urgent steps were not taken to address unemployment through industrialisation, the youth, like a time bomb, would explode at any given moment.
The BOT chairman also lamented the dwindling economic fortunes of the country, saying the negative effects were more pronounced in the North.
He attributed the bad economy to ineffective and inefficient monetary policies of the Federal Government.
“It appears that our leadership in the North is yet to understand and appreciate the bad situation of our youths. They are time bombs that can explode at any given moment.
“It is utterly injurious and catastrophic to delay any action to salvage them from lethargy, drugs and substance abuse and despondency, banditry, and many more vices we can think of.
“No sensible human being will be happy to rely on any form of palliative. Every average person wants to earn his living.
“Our leaders must show enough seriousness on the future well-being of the youth. They must find the way and means to encourage them in productive activities.
”As critical stakeholders, it behooves on us to conscientiously address our state governments in the North to take decisive actions towards industrialising the region.
“Northern governors and persons of means should be in a position to establish banking and other financial institutions to facilitate growth and development”
Reflecting on the agitations for restructuring and secession, the BOT chairman said the North must be on the alert “to avert any untoward moves from any group on our region.”
He added: “While we do not harbor any fears for all these gimmicks, we must seriously be on our guard.
“We need proper preparation even if the dialogue is preferred against any form of physical confrontation. It is for this that the ACF should take every reasonable step to interface with our counterparts; the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the South-South Peoples Conference, the Oduduwa and the Afenifere as proposed last week during the NEC meeting of the ACF.”
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