Igbo leader urges govt to tackle youth unemployment

A prominent Igbo leader and industrialist, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, has attributed the mounting crime rate among youths in the country to unemployment and drug abuse.The deputy Igbo leader, noted that misguided Nigerian youths with bottled-up energy and ambitions have resorted to criminality as the only means of survival. Ezeonwuka, who is the Proprietor of the Rojenny Tourist and Games Village, blamed successive governments for failing to build a secured future for the teeming youths by putting in place policies and programmes that will guarantee employment for the youths.Narrating his ordeal during an attack, the Ogirish Igbo who is still smarting from injuries, declared that he has forgiven his assailants and was prepared to rehabilitate and lead the reorientation of youths who have taken to crime out of frustration and peer pressure.Speaking during a press conference in his country home at Oba, Idemili South Council Area of Anambra State, Ezeonwuka urged government at various levels to create job opportunities for the youths as a viable means of combating crime, " Government should fight crime through job creation and not by buying guns and warships to fight criminals who have signed up for death,' adding 'experience have shown that this method has not achieved the desired goal."He said, 'the economic situation in the country had forced many youths to take to crime as a means of livelihood.'if government had provided employment for the teeming youths, the rate of crime will be manageable. If I can be attacked despite my position and contributions to the emancipation of the youths, I wonder who is safe. The situation calls for stringent measures beyond what the government is currently doing."I have all my life, worked for the betterment of Igbo youths in particular and Nigerians in general, I have advocated for the emancipation of youths in the society. I have invented formula that if applied and harnessed by the appropriate authorities, our society shall be one of the best societies in the world.'In his remarks, the traditional ruler of Nri Kingdom, Eze Obidiegwu Onyesoh, commended Ezeonnwuka for his show of bravery and magnanimity in forgiving the criminals and urged the criminals to, in turn, feel free to come forward and apologise to him for attempting to rob and take away his life, adding that failure to do so might attract the wrath of the gods of Igbo land.It will be recalled that Ezeonwuka was attacked by armed robbers barely four hours after he saved a robbery suspect, Uchechukwu Akajiume from being lynched and set ablaze by a mob and some robbery victims.
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