Sanusi harps on youth involvement in productive sector

The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, has linked Nigeria’s security challenges to non-involvement of the youth in the productive sector of the economy.

Speaking on ‘Youth, Security and National Development in Nigeria’ at the International Youth, Graduation and Annual Lecture at Katsina Vocational Training Centre, the emir highlighted the potentials of the country’s youth, pointing out that insurgents in the Northeast and the Niger Delta recruit youths who cannot be productive to society because of their ideology or lack of education.

“Most of those who join in the insurgency are economically disadvantaged. This threat to national security cannot be overcome unless these issues of ideology and lack of access to quality education are addressed,” he said.

He added that the Nigerian state, on its part, needs to invest more in agriculture as the highest employer of labour in order to absorb the youth.

“It needs to learn from Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China that developed using their agriculture as a springboard and those that did not adopt that strategy lagged behind. The strategies adopted by these countries are relevant to Northern Nigeria since we depend on agriculture with a growing population of youth who are unemployed because the economy is not growing,” he added.

According to Sanusi, poverty is uneven in the country because the southern states give high priority to education, unlike the North.

“Hence, when we assumed the emirship we embarked on reforms of our family structure, education and economic wellbeing based on Islamic precepts because we are a predominantly Muslim society,” he said. Late Alhaji MD Yusuf was the founder of the Katsina Vocational Training Centre.