Youth organisations have urged the Federal Government to promote education and create employment for the youth as an integrated strategy toward tackling suicide bombing in the country.
Mr. Ben Duntoye, the President of the Pan-African Youth Union (PYU) and Mr James Ajani, the President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to Duntoye, education and employment would enable the youth to refuse being used to carry out actions capable of breaching the peace.
He advised the government to create awareness on the implication of such acts.
“Suicide bombing is really out of one’s imagination because for a young man to be ready to die that is the highest level of whatever you can think of that person.
“We need to talk to those that are using these young people to embrace dialogue with the Federal Government and also to talk with young people not to allow anybody to use them.
“There is no religion that preaches that you should kill yourself, there is no religion that preaches that you should kill one another; there is no political party that says you should kill people.
“If you kill the people who are you going to rule? So if it is a politically motivated action I think it is very terrible and if it is also religiously motivated it is bad too; none of the religions we take to preaches all of these.
“We need to handle it more technically and continue to more of awareness to our people and I think education is very important.
“If you look at those that are caught in the suicide medial you will discover that their educational level is so low.
“Government needs to do more on education; government needs to do more about youth employment.
“When you address this you can see that no young man that is working in a government establishment or doing his private business will go and be a suicide bomber.
“It is the people that their morals are down and they are disenchanted with their internal system so you need to encourage them and you will find out that we will be able to address this problem.”
?Duntoye urged the youth to shun all acts that could endanger their future and engage themselves in meaningful projects that could be useful to the society.
On his part, Ajani decried the increasing incidence of suicide bombing in parts of the country and urged the government to take steps to address the problem
He urged the government to make youth development the cornerstone of its policies and programmes.
Ajani also called on well-meaning Nigerians to work closely with the government to find lasting solutions to the security challenges in the country.
“It’s only somebody who has lost hope that goes into suicide bombing because that is just to say that what am I waiting for I have nothing at stake.
“And when it has gotten to that level for young people for them to see life as is not worth living, it is a very critical issue that we all need to sit down and begin to review and find a lasting solution to.
“Youth issues must be at the forefront and if this is done, obviously we will see reduction in crime rate in our society.
“There are crimes everywhere in the world but there are good plans and programmes for youth development.
“Nigeria should not be an exception and everybody’s hand must be on deck to solve this problem of youth restiveness, crime and so on and so forth.”
He advised the youth to engage in activities that would enhance their skills so that they could be useful to themselves and the society.?