Mr Temitope Olatoye, a member of the House of Representatives, has called on government at all levels to urgently tackle the problem of youth unemployment in the country.
Olatoye made the call in Osogbo while speaking on ‘ Youth and Unemployment in Nigeria ‘ at the 2018 Press Week of the Osun Council of Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ).
Represented by his Special Adviser on Media, Communication and Strategy, Tunde Hamzat, Olatoye described youth unemployment in the country as a time bomb waiting to explode.
Olatoye, who is the House Committee Chairman on Urban Development and Regional Planning, said youths were now engaging in criminal activities due to unemployment.
” The terror unleashed on the ancient town of offa recently which claimed the lives of close to 20 innocent lives was carried out by youths, with the oldest among them less than 30years,’’ he said.
Olatoye(APC-Lagelu/ Akinyele) urged government to find urgent solution to youth unemployment in the country in order to check crime and youth restiveness.
Also speaking, the Ogiyan of Ejigbo in Osun, Oba Omowonuola Oyesosin, said youth unemployment remains a great challenge in the country.
Oyesosin, who was the royal father at the occasion, said that government needed to redouble its efforts in tackling unemployment in the country.
The monarch said that it was sad that universities were producing graduates on a yearly basis without job opportunities for them.
Oyesosin , however, called on government to create jobs for the youths through agriculture revolution.
The Secretary to Osun Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, on his part, called for an insurance policy for journalists by their employers
According to Adeoti, the call became imperative in view of the numerous hazards journalists face in the process of getting members of the public informed, entertained and educated.
” You have always served as the tool being used by members of other professions to fight their causes.
” I want to charge all professional journalists in the country on the need to mandate all media owners to put in place an insurance scheme to safeguard the welfare and lives of the practitioners.
“If there is any time for professional journalists to come together and fight for their own cause of demanding from their employees an insurance policy that will be in the overall benefit of all, that time is now,’’ Adeoti said.