Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has blamed the high rate of unemployment in the country on abandonment of people-centred leadership, free trade and deregulatory policies of Obasanjo years.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo with Atiku as his deputy, governed Nigeria from 1999-2007.
In a series of posts via his official Twitter account, the former vice president, attributed the level of insecurity in the country to the high rate of unemployment.
He expressed displeasure at the recent report by Bloomberg that Nigeria would emerge as the nation with the highest rate of unemployment at over 33 per cent..
“What this government must realise is that the unprecedented insecurity Nigeria is facing is the result of youth unemployment. Idleness is the worst feature of unemployment because it channels the energy of our youths away from production, and towards destruction, and that is why Nigeria is now the third most terrorised nation on earth.”
Atiku asked the government to focus on getting 13.5 million out-of-school children into schools and engage youths in work programmes as a means to reduce the unemployment rate.
He also suggested three ways to encourage capital inflow and foreign direct investment.
“First, Nigeria must move towards a single exchange rate to be determined by market forces. Secondly, federal and state governments must reduce taxes to make Nigeria more business friendly. And finally, financial and monetary institutions, like the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Securities and Exchange Commission, must be free from the type of political influence that resulted in the prohibition of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
He said since the government lacked the ability to address current challenges, Nigerians must help the government in order to save themselves.
“We are at a precipice as a nation and the truth is that all stakeholders and elder statesmen have to speak up on time, while there is still a Nigeria to save. This government obviously lacks the capacity to address our current challenges, and we must help them, not because of the government, but because of our people.
“In a situation where we are simultaneously the world headquarters for extreme poverty, the world capital for out-of-school children, and the nation with the highest unemployment rate on earth, there is a very real and present danger that we might slip into the failed states index – God forbid!”