‘They are angry’ — Tinubu wants 50m youths drafted into army

Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says Nigerian youths are angry and should be massively recruited into the Nigerian army.

Speaking at the colloquium to mark his 69th birthday in Kano on Monday, Tinubu said 50 million youths should be drafted into the army while some engage in agriculture.

The former governor of Lagos made the recommendation as a way of addressing Nigeria’s high rate of unemployment.

He said such measure would cut off the potential source of recruitment for bandits and criminals who may be looking to engage the youths.

“Recruit 50 million youths into the army, take away from their (the bandits’) recruitment source,” he said.

“What they will eat? Cassava, corn, yam in the afternoon… it is grown here. You create demand and consumption for over five million army of boot camps.”

The APC leader also acknowledged the creativity of young Nigerians but added that they must listen to how best to demand what they want.

“When you see social media these days, you find the very creative mind of Nigerians. I salute you; I salute our youths,” he said.

“They are angry, they are showing their anger but we will appeal to them to listen to our sisters and brothers here teaching us how to get them engaged. Maybe some of us are old-fashioned but if you don’t mix it too, the agitations can be dangerous.

“You have to mix it so that Nigeria is handled carefully. We can promote unity and common destiny in a better, more creative way; something we’ve done very well in Lagos state can be brought to bear in the entire country one of these days.”