Outspoken and controversial public figure, Femi Fani Kayode is one of those who has reacted to yesterday’s stampede and death of unemployed youths who were at the Nigerian Immigration screening held across the nation yesterday. The former aviation minister blamed the present government for the unemployment rate in the country.
’60 per cent of our graduates are unemployed. 51 per cent of our people are unemployed. As a glaring testimony to these frightful statistics, which I happen to believe may well be a world record in terms of unemployment, a terrible tragedy has occurred in Abuja and Port Harcourt.
Over 50,000 of our youths gathered at the National Stadium in Abuja alone for an aptitude test for a few jobs in the Immigration Service. 11 of those children were killed in a stampede whilst looking for those jobs. Their only crime was to try to get a better life for themselves and to try to secure their future. What a tragedy
One day Nigerians will appreciate the importance of facts, figures and statistics. Why is anyone surprised that hundreds of thousands of youths are gathering in stadiums all over the country today just to apply for a tiny handful of jobs that are available in Immigration? This is so SIMPLY because there are NO jobs available for these children in our country.
I repeat 80 per cent of our graduates are unemployed and 51 per cent of our people are unemployed. Why won’t they die and be killed looking for jobs? Why won’t they gather in stadiums all over the country in their hundreds of thousands just to do an aptitude test for a job in Immigration? Why should anyone be surprised by this?
They are desperate and they are suffering. That is what Goodluck’s government has done to them. We have an army of angry, jobless and desperate youths on our hands in this country and we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. May God help us and may He forgive us for failing these children and destroying their futures.
Other than this I will say no more on this matter because the truth is that most Nigerians no longer ”give a damn” when blood is shed and when lives are taken. Under President Goodluck Jonathan we have become a nation of vampires where the death of innocent children and youths means nothing and where we cannot even provide jobs or a decent standard of living for our young ones.
May the souls of those youths that lost their lives in today’s tragic events rest in perfect peace,’ Fani-Kayode explained
