By 
Foluso ADEBAYO
The federal government has been advised to tackle the current security challenges facing the nation through the introduction of skill acquisition schemes into the country’s educational curriculums.
A legal practitioner who also doubles as a security expert, Barrister Sam Chigozie Otoboeze, gave the suggestion while speaking exclusively with Security Reporters.com in Lagos.
Otoboeze said the hike in criminal activities across the federation in recent times can be traced to lack of basic skills among our youths which they can readily deploy to job creation.
According to him, there is little the government can do in the area of job creation to solve the high spate of unemployment among the youths in the country who coincidentally account for over 60% of the population.
“The phenomena of armed banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and increased wave of militancy, among other crimes, point to the fact that the youths are idle because they lack the basic skills to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation,” he stated during the interview.
The security expert, who retired as General Manager, Security, in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was of the opinion that less than one per cent of criminals would opt to take to crime if they have one skill or another which can help them to create job opportunities.
Barrister Otoboeze who believes that skill acquisition is a private initiative concern rather than government, has established the Barrister Sam Otoboeze Foundation (BSOF) which runs a Skill Acquisition Centre in Ochima in Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State essentially for the training of youths to acquire the necessary skills that will eventually be the basis for employment creation instead of seeking white collar jobs upon graduation.
While pointing out that skill acquisition is one of the strategies the government can deploy to partly resolve the current insecurity quagmire and the increased wave of criminality facing the country, Barrister Otoboeze declared that unemployment which is currently widespread in the country, breeds hunger and hunger drives crime.
The legal practitioner, who is also the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Abokus Integrated Security Limited as well as the Principal Partner, Ngbo-Igwe Chambers, added that the federal government needs to adopt a new educational policy that will emphasize skill acquisition such that graduates of our educational system will be in a better stead than hitherto being job creators rather than job seekers.
According to him, when unemployment reduces, there will be a corresponding reduction in crime rate in the country.
” An idle mind is the harbinger for criminal tendencies,” he said, pointing out that, “government should consider seriously incorporating skill acquisition into the school curriculum of our youths in its fight against the current insecurity plaguing the country.”
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