The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Lagos State Chapter says youths in the state must lend a hand in fighting crimes and Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH) to foster sustainable societal change.
The NYCN and some legal experts made this call in a statement on Thursday in Lagos by Barrister Rafiat Akinyemi, Legal Adviser, NYCN, after the council’s second edition of the ‘Lagos Youth and the Law’ programme, tagged “Youths in Actualising a Crime-Free City”.
Speaking, Justice Kazeem Alogba, Chief Judge of Lagos State, said that due to the fact that youths were open to new experiences, they might be led astray if adequate care was not taken in respect of their affairs.
Alogba, who was represented by Barrister David Adjarho of the Lagos State Judiciary, said: “It is an open secret that the bulk of crimes are committed by the youths. The main reason for this is that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
“Therefore, in order to prevent the commission of crimes by our youths and to make our city crime free, it is necessary to provide sufficient and sound education to our youths.
“While providing sound education, it is very needful to make our youths aware that a life of crime bears very heavy cost on the life of a person and that on the long run, crimes do not pay and the only outcome of a life of crime is a ruined life.”
According to him, it is also important to make available, along with a sound education for the prevention of crimes, adequate opportunities of vocational trainings to youths.
He said that this would afford those that were not educationally inclined to take advantage of such vocational training facilities to engage their hands and minds.
Alogba said that the engagement in vocational trainings will surely lead to the diversion of youths from engaging in antisocial behavior which most times result in the commission of crimes.
He said: ” I can confidently say that in societies where the youths are positively engaged in education and vocational trainings, such youths have no time to take part in criminal activities.
“It is therefore correct to assert that in order to have a crime free city, it is incumbent on all of us as parents, caregivers and government officers to see to the social and emotional wellbeing of our youths.
“By taking good care of the overall wellbeing of the youths, from childhood we are only laying the foundation for a peaceful society in which our cities will definitely be crime free for now and in the future.”
He urged youths to take advantage of the various educational and vocational trainings made available to them by the Government and good spirited philanthropists at several centres within Lagos State.
Speaking, the Provost, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja, Barrister Yusuf Nurudeen, linked the crime-laden society to failed family standards “where only vices were passed to children who later become youths”.
Nurudeen said that the trend had result in excessive greed and lack of contentedness, leading into all sorts of crimes rather than work hard to make money.
Also speaking, Dr Abiola Afolabi, Founding Director, Women Advocacy Research and Documentation Center, stressed the need for the youth to contribute and lend their voices in raising awareness about crimes especially gender based violence.
Afolabi called for youth’s involvement in productive activities to help build the society through the positive use of their energy, peaceful protests or demonstrations, advocacies and policy-collaboration.
She said that their skills and talents could also be used to campaign against gender-based violence, urging youths to be catalysts for change.
In his remark, a former Lagos State Chairman of NYCN, Comrade Ismahil Odulana, said that parents should be mindful of how they raise their children and what they do in their presence.
Meanwhile, the NYCN legal adviser said that youths are very critical in actualising a crime free city and the state owes it to every youth to ensure a crime free society.
Akinyemi, also the Director, Legal and He Human Rights Directorate of NYCN said that the council is an umbrella body of the youth saddled with the responsibility of youth welfares while promoting peace and unity.
She said that the high and increasing rate of youth in correctional centre was alarming.
“Statistics has shown that over 60 per cent are youths as at 11th day of September, 2023 Report from Nigeria Correctional Centers. Nigeria ranks 27th with the highest number of Prisoners globally,” she said.
According to him, with the current situation, it has become sacrosanct for NYCN in Lagos State to sensitise the youth on the Laws, Fundamental Human Right and other trendy issues as it affects them.
She said that the event was attended by various legal practitioners including the representative of the Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba among others.
