By Editor

Sir: The high level of unemployment whereby thousands of youths are either not gainfully engaged, nor possess entrepreneurial skill is alarming in this country. It points to a very unsavoury situation of instability for the country. The youths have become disappointed because their expectation of being gainfully employed after schooling has been rendered into a mirage.

Many youths indeed want to work but cannot find a job because of a lack of employment opportunities in the country. Invariably, many of them take to crime, the result of which all Nigerians, including the rich and the poor, are experiencing.

Some of the criminal activities bedevilling Nigerians today include increased militancy, cultism, violent conduct, kidnappings, restiveness and social delinquency among the youths, armed robbery and banditry or terrorism. Unemployment has been devastating to both the individual and society as a whole both psychologically and economically.

It is high time our governments at all levels – local, state and federal – take the need to reverse this trend seriously. For a start, the governments can intervene by ensuring that educational opportunities are open to all Nigerians from childhood level to adulthood. Governments can also revive and strengthen effective career guidance, and vocational education as well as entrepreneurial education to keep the youths engaged continuously. The absence of these engagements is responsible for the security crisis confronting this country

In addition, it is recommended that youths are trained to acquire skills that are congruent with real labour market demand; and these should be made part of schools’ curricula. Government has the responsibility to make this country livable; or else they should make way for those who can do it.

• Lukman Yusuf, Department of Mass Communication, Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi.

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