Unemployment responsible for increasing crime rate, Says Olanipekun

A legal luminary, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has attributed the rising rate of crimes in the country to youth unemployment, urging patriotic elite to place high premium on youth empowerment to complement the government’s efforts.

He condemned the killings of six persons during a cult clash in Ikere Ekiti, Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State last week, describing the incident as unfortunate and unacceptable.

Six persons were shot dead in Ikere-Ekiti, the country home of Olanipekun, last week Sunday during a bloody clash between two rival cult groups, which threw the state into deep mourning and panic.

The senior lawyer, who spoke in Ikere-Ekiti on Saturday when Wole Olanipekun Foundation distributed N50,000 each to 200 older people and youths in the town, said the measure was conceived to reduce crime rate via promotion of small-scale businesses.

He said: “How can our youths and our future be killing in the name of cultism? We need to help the government to engage our unemployed youth. This shouldn’t be left to the government alone. The killing has portrayed us in bad light. We shouldn’t be in the news for negative reasons.