Unemployment major cause of violent extremism among youths -ActionAid

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

Director Programmes, ActionAid,  Suwaiba Mohammed Dankabo has described unemployment as a factor responsible for violent extremis among youth.

She said the problem would continue to deteriorate if unemployment is not properly addressed.

Dankabo stated this at a one-day Policy Dialogue on Youth  Development and the Prevention of Violent  Extremism, organized by ActionAid in conjunction with Disputes Resolutions and Development Initiative,  with the support of Global Community and Resilient Fund (GCERF), held in Kano on Wednesday.

She said the policy dialogue for youth in Kano had been conceived to seek the wise counsel of critical stakeholders on way to bail the teeming youth out of the present situation.

According to her, supporting the youth to stand on their feet in the area of self-employment opportunities would make them to fight the disturbing spate of idleness and wanton joblessness which tend to dampen their quest for relevance and productivity adding that the Actionaid and other notable International Development partners were in the fore front of spearheading the crusade aimed to actualize such a noble objective.

She said the time has come for the youth to discern the simple fact that they are indispensable in the drive to make the society conducive to all shades of people  concerned about developing the society’s abundant potentials affirming that with the youth taking the bull by the horns, the road to achieving the desired objective would never be a far cry.

She pointed out that with the 2023 general elections around the corner, there was the compelling need for a paradigm shift in the way they were behaving and that they were expected not to play into the hands of some self-centred politicians, who may wish to use them as cannon-fodders in causing destructive chaos.

She said” with the relevant critical stakeholders putting heads together in charting the roadmap needed in putting the youth on the right pedestal of human decency and high responsibility, we are quite convinced that they they were ready to listen to the voice of reason.”

“Today’s policy dialogue would indeed open the eyes of major critical holders who were expected to employ their acumen and the capacity to put things in the proper perspective at the time the society is expecting their utmost contribution in moulding and shaping the character of the youth for them to become responsible and responsive” she stated.

Speaking in the same vein, the National  coordinator, Global Community  Engagement and Resilient Fund(GCERF) Mrs. Yetunde Adegoke said the policy dialogue had been conceived to chart a  clear direction and focus for the youth to be actively engaged and supported in addition to determining wether there was the need for a change of the prevailing trend as it affects youth’s future.