The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has advised the Federal Government to channel the earmarked funds for ‘Ruga Settlement’ to education and job creation in order to reduce the alarming rate of ‘out of schools’ children and unemployment in the country.
Comrade John Oladele Nihi, the NYCN National President gave the advise in a press statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Nihi, Nigeria is currently having the highest estimated number of over 10 million children who are currently out of school, and the number is increasing on daily basis.
Nihi emphasised that the issue of children dropping out of schools on daily basis should be of a great concern to the federal government, saying efforts should be made to address the ailing challenges headlong.
”The best legacy you can give to any child is education; no nation ever developed without education. Education will equip a child better to tackle and overcome several challenges of life.
”We are not unaware of the current efforts of the federal government to boost education sector, and the recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to State Governments and parents to ensure that every child is enrolled in school.
”The gesture is quite commendable, no doubt about that, but it should go beyond that and be backed up by necessary actions through policies and legislations that will make deliberate ”non enrollment” of a child in school a criminal offence against humanity.
”We, therefore, call on the federal government to channel the earmarked funds for RUGA Settlement to boost education which will also reduce the rate of insecurity in the country,” Nihi said.
He stressed that the increasing rate of insecurity in the country was not unconnected with the high level of illiteracy especially in the northern part of the country.
He opined that more enrollment of children in school would reduce the high illiteracy level which would drastically reduce the rate of banditry, kidnapping, and other insecurity across the country.
Nihi, however, urged the federal government to make wider consultations and engage the relevant stakeholders if at all the Ruga Settlement would proffer a lasting solution to the lingering herders/farmers crisis and ensure peace.
”As leaders of millions of Nigerian youths in this country, we are of the opinion that the implementation of Ruga Settlement across the country cannot not be a lasting solution to the herders/farmers crisis except ‘Ranching’; Ruga Settlement may further escalate ethnic conflict,” Nihi said.
He, however, appealed to Nigerian youths across the 774 local government areas of the country to be law abiding, shun violence and not taking laws into their own hand in their respective areas, saying they should engage the principle of dialogue in resolving all issues.
”We are calling on Nigerian youths to continue to support and believe in the leadership of President Buhari, as he is committed to addressing the issues of insecurity and unemployment in our nation,” Nihi said.
