Declare emergency on unemployment, Methodist Church tells FG

Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kalu Uche, has urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on unemployment and urgently recruit 3,000 persons in each of the 774 councils of the country.

He expressed concern over rising unemployment in the country, especially among educated youths and attributed the rising crime rate in the country to the lack of jobs and idleness, stressing that an idle mind will always remain the devil’s workshop.

The cleric stated this at the Methodist Church Training Institute in Umuahia, Abia State during a visit of the state chapter of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), led by the Director, Dr. Ngozi Okechukwu.

The advocacy visit tagged: “Building A People Of Peace: Towards Enhancing National Security,” the prelate, who stated that Nigeria was undergoing excruciating and traumatising experience due to insecurity, blamed the federal, state and local governments for not thinking effectively about the masses.

Uche, who spoke in the presence of the church’s Lay President, Sir Ifeanyi Okechukwu, recommended aggressive farming, recruitment of more people to man the country’s porous borders, increasing the extant police from one to 8,000 ratio to one to 1, 000 and bringing the total number of Police personnel to two million as solution to address insecurity in the country.

Speaking, Okechukwu said the advocacy visit was in continuation of NOA’s efforts to fight insecurity and engender peace, adding that while the agency believed that if the Church gets more committed to national security campaign, there would be transformation and stability in the country.

She stressed that it was not surprising that Nigeria had experienced extreme political violence, insurgency, ethnic and religious conflicts, militancy, unemployment, drug abuse, uneven development, political and socio-economic marginalisation, inept leadership, judicial corruption, as well as banditry and kidnapping which pose serious threats to national peace.

“Having realised that government can not address the challenges alone, it urged all stakeholders and citizens to be involved. Violence is often predictable and preventable just as leaders have the responsibility to contain constraints to peace and security. Every country needs peace to survive,” she added.