The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Ibadan, Bisi Akande, has issued a stark warning that Nigeria risks facing the collective anger of its vast population of untrained and unskilled youths if urgent steps are not taken to address the country’s deepening human capacity crisis.

Speaking in Ibadan at the 19th International Annual Conference, General Assembly and Investiture of Fellows of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP) yesterday, Akande described the growing army of untrained youths as a time bomb that could destabilise national peace if left unattended.

According to him, Nigeria is “truly at war with itself” because, despite having vast forests, minerals and natural resources, the majority of its young population lacks the knowledge and technical ability to harness these assets for national prosperity.

“We have large populations of uneducated and untrained workers who have no capacity to exploit our resources for wealth. Until these young Nigerians are massively trained in science and technology, the wars from ignorance, poor health and abject poverty will continue to hold us down,” Akande stated.

He warned that the vacuum created by the country’s weak human capital base has left the nation vulnerable to exploitation by foreign actors “disguising themselves as bandits, Boko Haram or terrorists,” and by local criminal groups feeding on widespread poverty and frustration.

Akande’s concerns echoed the keynote address delivered by former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa (rtd.), who also warned that youth joblessness has become an urgent national and global security threat.

Musa said that investing in entrepreneurship, vocational training, and the digital economy remains Nigeria’s most cost-effective peacekeeping strategy.

“Corruption is economic sabotage,” Musa added, canvassing a “Grand Alliance for Peace” that would unite government, private sector, civil society, academia and security institutions to tackle insecurity.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, also cautioned that youth unemployment breeds a reservoir of disillusionment that can be easily exploited by extremists, adding that decent work and fair wages are essential for social stability.