The recent robbery incident in Abuja, during which a first generation bank in Mpape area of the Federal Capital Territory was attacked is another clear evidence of the negative social implication of some policies of the FCT Administration. This piece condemns the robbery incident in the strongest terms.
However, it is an unquestionable fact that some policies of the FCT Administration have sent many out of business, and inflicted hardships on people.
Clearly, I will not applaud anybody that would choose to become a robber or engage in other crimes as means of earning a livelihood because of lack of jobs and hardship in the country.
Unemployment is known to be the major problem in Nigeria after corruption, religious and tribal segregation. Many youths have graduated from school but have no jobs to do.
Abuja accommodates a large number of the unemployed youths in the country. I have been in Abuja since 2006 and I must confess that the unemployed youths in Abuja are hardworking and ready to do legitimate jobs to earn a living but the FCT Administration and its policies are always set against the efforts of these hardworking graduates.
I would not talk about the past when houses were demolished and people suddenly made homeless; commercial motorcyclists were banned in many places within the FCT and people were killed and many more.
In Abuja today, there is a taskforce unit in the FCT in charge of keeping Abuja clean. The members of the Task Force go around Abuja, arrest people with provisions shops and lock their shops, arrest people hawking in different places within the FCT and seize their goods and many more.
Those doing the above mentioned businesses and more are the unemployed youths that the government and the FCT administration have failed to provide jobs for them. If you don’t want them to do what is making food available for them, what else do you expect them to do if not to seek for every possible means of surviving? In some cases, the FCT administration has claimed to have provided shops and other places for such people but failed to add that the fees for the shops are exorbitant and these unemployed youths cannot afford any of the shops.
The government is not providing jobs for the unemployed youths or an enabling environment for them to excel in their areas of interest, rather the government has been making policies that frustrate the youth. Yet the same government would say that youths are lazy.
Government needs to allow youths do whatever that is legitimate, to enable them survive and avoid criminal activities.
• Awunah Pius Terwase, wrote from Mpape, Abuja.