According to Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), the enormous number of unemployed youths in the North-East area is the most significant contributor to insecurity in the region, as thousands of youths wake up every morning without food or shelter.
Obi expressed this on Monday during a meeting with North-East stakeholders in Abuja.
According to him, the North-East has the ability not only to feed the country but also to produce enough cash crops for export. He promised that if he wins the presidential elections next year, his administration will make that a reality.
He claims that insecurity will be a thing of the past when idle youths engage in legitimate businesses ranging from agriculture to commerce, ensuring that the country shifts from consumption to production.
Obi said, “Youth unemployment is nearing 50 percent, so you have millions of youth in their productive age doing nothing, not knowing where the next meal will come from. With that situation, you are going to have crises; the crisis of insecurity, the crisis of banditry, the crisis of kidnapping.
“What I and Datti (Baba-Ahmed) are promising you is number one; that we have the best combination, the best experience to start tackling the issue of security and I will say this, hold us responsible. Let nobody tell you we cannot solve the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, it can be stopped and done very quickly.
“We want to unite Nigeria; we want to see Nigerians being proud of their country again. We want to remove Nigeria from where it is today, from consumption to production and when you do that, you start pulling people out of poverty,” he said.
