The Chairman of the Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria, Enugu State chapter, Dr Ambrose Igboke, Thursday, attributed the lack of interest of most Nigerian youths towards agriculture to government’s failure to address insecurity in the country.
Igboke, who spoke in Enugu, was reacting to recent killings in Plateau and Benue states which left scores of people dead and many maimed.
He said the failure of the government to provide adequate security had adversely affected the agricultural sector, warning that it would lead to hunger and abject poverty in the near future.
According to him, lack of diligent prosecution of Fulani herders had given some herders the impunity to act as being above the law.
He said the attacks being perpetrated by herders on farmers were spreading across the federation just the way Boko Haram started and gradually became a national issue during the Buhari administration due to complacency.
He said, “The primary responsibility of the government to the citizenry is the provision of security and welfare. The government has, however, failed to fulfil these responsibilities. Boko Haram started in the North, and because the federal government failed to act quickly, the terrorists acquired territories outside North.
“In the past, grazers were not entering farms to destroy crops. Cattle were controlled. But it got to a stage where farmlands were not spared. Farmers are being attacked. For safety reasons, many farmers are back home from their farms. If we continue like this, there will be a time we may not be able to feed ourselves as a nation. You can imagine that Nigeria imports grains from war-ravaged Ukraine.”
He said lack of political will to address the country’s nagging issues had made many Nigerian youths vulnerable to crimes due to unemployment.
He added, “Over 52 per cent of Nigerian youths are unemployed. This creates fertile grounds for their being recruited into criminal activities. The government has killed public industries. It has given up its responsibilities to capitalists.
” Our leaders abandoned textile and sugarcane industries. Ajeokuta Steel Company never took off. Public companies were privatised. Implosion is looming. Probably, this is a plot to weaponise poverty in Nigeria.”
He also interrogated the level of investments in the security sector, adding that “yet, we have not seen good results.”
He said, “National Identity Numbers are made compulsory, and even linked to our phone numbers, yet criminals are hardly tracked while negotiating ransoms.”
He charged the government to seek ways of creating jobs to provide hope for Nigerians youths.
