Erstwhile minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday decried the spate of unemployment in the country, saying that despite his connections, his two daughters who are both Masters Degrees holders are still jobless.
The former Minister gave this shocking revelation while delivering a lecture at the Sixth Annual Alao Aka-Bashorun Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch.
The lecture, which he entitled Impunity, Injustice and Insecurity: What Role for the Law,’ e-l-Rufai called on the need for Nigeria to create three million jobs yearly to tackle its employment problem. He said, “Forty-two per cent of Nigerian youth are unemployed.
“I have two daughters with Masters Degrees and they are unemployed. They have been at home for more than a year and I cannot get a job for them.
“We are sitting on a demographic time bomb and unless we have visionary leaders who are able to plan for the future, we will have a huge problem.”
El-Rufai blamed the Nigerian government of spending N2bn daily on security, instead of investing in infrastructure and human capital development.
He flayed the N100bn Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government, stressing that it had not solved the problem of pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the Niger Delta region. He said, “Our oil production output is at its lowest since 2009 as a result of oil theft and closure of facilities by oil companies.
“That is why the government is borrowing more than ever and dipping into the nation’s foreign reserves.” The former FCT minister observed that granting amnesty to the Boko Haram sect was not the way forward for the country.
“Even if you grant amnesty to Boko Haram, without addressing the fundamental issues such as lack of opportunities, poverty and social injustice, it will not solve the problem,” he said.
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