A political organisation under the aegis North East Youth Initiative for Development(NEYID), has called on the Federal Government to go after the sponsors of the several killings in Nigeria and stop pointing accusing fingers at the youths.
The group while advising government to engage the youths in nation building and governance, said recent developments have confirmed that “the country has turned to something else.”
The Executive Director of NEYID, Dauda Gombe stated these in an interview with journalists in Abuja during an inaugural national youth dialogue and workshop to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and ideas to change the narrative that youths have been responsible for the killings and insecurity in Nigeria.
Gombe expressed concern about the various statistics of death in the country saying that all the statistics being given about the serial killings especially in the North East were imaginary figures.
He said it was time to change the narrative about youths and killings in Nigeria.
“The country has turned to something else; we believe that we have the solution, we have to prove that we are not responsible for the killings.
“Who is responsible? They are pointing accusing fingers on youths; therefore, we have come together to change the narrative to tell the world who actually we are and our contribution in finding a lasting solution to the security challenges affecting this nation.
The problems are not the youths but the sponsors.
“The government, especially politicians should provide the enabling environment for young people to be in governance.
“We are going to issue communique to send the right message to the government to inject the right people in the right places because most of the time the government will tell you they are engaging the youths. But the issue is that they are not engaging the right people, everything has been politicized in this nation,” he said.
Gombe also faulted the official statistics of casualties of the security challenges in the country, saying they are untrue.
According to him, any statistics you get is just an assumption, the number of people killed or being killed everyday in this country is beyond thinking and nobody can give you the accurate figure.
“Even the government is just trying, but nobody can give you the accurate figure because some the places that these things are happening nobody know.
They are not even accessible, the bushes don’t even have network, water and security. We are just using manageable figures being released by the government or others who feel they have a reasonable number. But the truth is that nobody have the accurate figure and the figure is beyond thinking, he said.
Also, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, who spoke virtually, expressed happiness over the commitment of the youths on tackling security challenges saying, it had confirmed that he was not alone in it.
He said, “I will always avail myself for the youths. I am happy to see that you’re part of the struggle and security is at the centre of the struggle. We will continue to appeal to our conscience.”
The event which was organised by NEYID in conjunction with an International Human Rights Organisation, Plan International Nigeria, was attended by over 60 youths from the North East, North West and North Central and other areas experiencing the grips of banditry, Boko Haram and ISWAP to pave way for peace.
