A former Director of Research Department at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Titus Okunrounmu, has urged the Federal Government to provide more jobs for youths this year to reduce security challenges in the country.
Okunrounmu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Ota, Ogun State, that insecurity and unemployment were two sides of the same coin.
The former CBN director noted that an increase in unemployment would automatically lead to a rise in insecurity.
“An idle hand is the devil’s work shop,” he said.
Okunrounmu said most of the kidnappings, banditry and herdsmen/farmers crises, among others, were fuelled by the increased unemployment situation in the country.
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“There is the need for the Federal Government to do the needful for the economy to grow and embrace good governance in 2024,” he said.
The former CBN director also urged the government to leverage agriculture through the fertile lands and modern equipment on massive farming to employ the teeming youths in order to prevent them from engaging in social vices.
“The country could respond to God’s grace by farming and constant heavy rain to solve some of the current problems in the country.
“In addition, God has given us all these resources and population so that Nigerians would not suffer,” he said.