The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Monday warned the Federal Government that another #EndSARS protest will be a disaster for the country if the government fails to effectively address the issue of youth unemployment in the country.
Lawan gave the warning during the opening of the 2021 budget defence of the Ministry of Agriculture.
He asked the Federal Government to take practical steps in its national budget to meaningfully engage the youths.
Lawan noted that some youths genuinely expressed their anger during the recent #EndSARS protest, a development he said gained government’s attention.
He advised that there was the need to be more practical with budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Agriculture to create jobs for many of the youths.
Lawan further noted that a good number of youths, who may not have had the opportunity to vent their anger are in the rural areas.
The Senate President said: “Let’s meet them where they are and many of them are in the rural areas.
“Let’s give them what we can and keep them in the rural areas and make their lives productive.
“On our part, we are going to be accountable.
“We escaped this one (#EndSARS Protest).
“The other one is inescapable.”
Lawan noted that the agriculture sector was enough to finance the national budget, urging government to take the sector more seriously in its efforts to diversify the economy from oil.
He said: “I have few engagements with the Ministry recently, but let me say this that this sector, and without any prejudice, is enough for the economy.
“Something oil has not been able to do.
“But why haven’t we been able to do so?”
Lawan said oil can provide only a few white collar jobs, but Agriculture has the capacity to provide jobs for everybody if properly handled and with support from the private sector, adding: “We need to be practical.
“Other countries have made it through this sector.
“Anytime we talk about diversification, the first thing we mention is agriculture.
“Oil cannot give jobs to the youth, only few, mostly white collar.
“This sector can give everybody a job and give us the opportunity for a better life.
“Recently, we had some of our youths protesting.
“Some of them very genuinely.
“They were seeking the attention of leaders and they got the attention of leaders.
“So our budget, especially for 2021, should be mindful of what we do to provide employment opportunities for these youths.
“They demonstrated.
“They protested because they could do so.
“There are so many other people who may not be youthful, but are also in the same need and they didn’t protest.
“Let’s meet them where they are.
“We don’t have to wait until they also try to grumble or protest.
“We should be proactive.
“We should reach them and they are in the rural areas.
“Most of them.
“So we should meet them there.
“Give them what we can and what they need to some extent, within the purview of our resources and give them there, to make them live a productive life and that is the only way we can make a difference in the lives of the people.”
Lawan described Agriculture sector as the “mother of all sectors” in the Nigerian economy and urged all stakeholders at all levels of government to accord it more attention.
He said: “I still believe that we need to do better for this sector because to do better for the Agriculture sector is to do better for Nigerians and what can be better for a government than to do better for its citizens.
“I believe that this sector is the mother of all sectors in our economy.
“We have the potentials across the country to grow anything.”
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
