Don to Buhari: Create more jobs to stem banditry, cybercrimes among youths

By Boye Ajayi

Worried by an army of youths taking to high-pressure cybercrime and other violent crimes, a university administrator has urged the Buhari administration to redouble efforts toward creating more job opportunities for youths in the country.

Mass job creation for youths, Prof. Charles Ayo said, would stave off an upsurge in crime and criminalities including rape, kidnapping and armed robbery.

Ayo, who is the Vice-Chancellor of Trinity University, Yaba, Lagos, said youth unemployment especially among graduates had posed a serious threat to the security of lives and property.

“The Federal Government should as matter of urgency create more jobs for the youths of the country to stem the tide of criminal activities among them.

“Some of the security challenges including kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery, cyber-crime, and Automatic Teller Machine frauds which are more rampant now among youths are due to economic degradation confronting the nation,” he said.

The Professor of Computer Science observed that the economic situation in the country had forced many youths who had no access to capital to set up businesses to be enlisted in various gangs thereby engaging in delinquent behaviours.

According to him, most unemployed graduates are now living a life that is devoid of dignity, health, or social comforts.

“Increase in crime rate can be traced to the high level of poverty, massive unemployment, and under-employment of our youths.

“The government needs to adopt holistic approach in addressing crime rate and other fraud-related challenges in the country,’’ Ayo said.
The Vice-Chancellor also advised the federal government to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive through the provision of stable power supply, good road networks, and adequate security.

He, however, commended the nation’s commercial banks for rising to the challenge of curtailing fake bank alerts to customers.

“But the problem of ATM fraud will have to live with us for a long time because it is global in nature, not restricted to Nigeria alone.’’

On the high exchange rate, Ayo advised the Central Bank of Nigeria to fashion out policies that would ensure stable exchange rate.

He said:” Nigerians patronise home-made goods in order to reduce heavy dependence on foreign goods and this will make the nation’s currency to become stronger.’’