Nigerians react to Tinubu’s call for recruitment of 50m youths into army to fight insecurity

Many Nigerian have taken to social media platforms, especially Twitter, to react to call made by national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, on Monday, urging the Federal Government to recruit at least 50 million youths into the Nigerian Army to boost the nation’s fight against terrorism, banditry, and all forms of internal and external security threats.

Speaking at the 12th colloquium to mark his 69th birthday in Kano State, Tinubu, who was also a former governor of Lagos State, said the nation was under-policed while competing with armed robbers and bandits, urging the government to recruit youths who were unemployed.

While reacting to recent statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that over 23 million Nigerians were jobless, Tinubu urged the government to create jobs for youths in the agricultural value chain.

Read also: Tinubu proposes solution to insecurity in Nigeria

He said, “Don’t talk about illiteracy, anybody who can hold a gun, who can handle a gun, who can cock and shoot is technically competent to repair a tractor in the farm.”

The colloquium held in Kano, was themed, ‘Our Common Bond, Our Common Wealth: The Imperative Of National Cohesion For Growth And Prosperity’, and was virtually attended by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, who chaired the occasion and restated the essence of a “One Nigeria”.

The colloquium was also virtually attended by the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo; House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; amongst others, whose itineraries were disrupted by poor weather from the Abuja airport to the Kano airport.

Reacting, some Nigerians welcomes the idea, while some said it could to more problems as there would be arms in the hands of many more Nigerians, which may be uncontrollable.

See some reactions below:

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