Governments at all levels have been urged to create opportunities for youths to participate in politics and decision-making processes.
According to the National Council of Muslim Youth Organisations (NACOMYO), Lagos Island Zone, the disenfranchisement of young people in decision making contributes to the high rate of crime.
The group coordinator, Sulaimon Olaotan, speaking during NACOMYO’s biannual conference, on the theme, ‘Security and Challenges,’ to usher in new leaders of the organization in Lagos, said the responsibility of taming crimes lies largely with the government.
He said unemployment, poor health facilities, inadequacies in skills and education and lack of support for entrepreneurship negatively affect youth economic engagement.
According to him, “The absence of an enabling environment has led many youths into cultism, thuggery, drug abuse and so many social vices.
“For any society to grow, the government needs to take care of the youths by providing basic amenities, jobs, empowerment and soft loans with no interest.”
“The challenges we are facing in the southwest now came up due to lack of justice, fairness and equity. In Islam, there is what we call justice, and if there is justice in the system, nobody will claim one ethnic group or religion because the justice system will address all issues. Injustice in society has resulted in religious bigotry, ethnic war, insurgency and many more.”
Also speaking, the General Secretary, Yusuf Tajudeen Taiwo, said the association had impacted positively so many lives despite the emergence of the pandemic.
“As part of the efforts to tackle unrest in the society, we do engage youths in a lot of activities, like mosque cleaning, medical outreach, debate and quiz competitions for students.
He added that the organisation also engages in so many empowerment projects. “During the lockdown, we distributed palliatives to the general public, and we gave out WAEC, NECO, JAMB forms to intelligent underprivileged students.”
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