National leader of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appealed to the federal government to recruit 50 million youths into the military to curb unemployment and prevent crime in the country.

Speaking on Monday during the 12th Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Colloquium held in Kano, the former Lagos State governor noted that it is expedient for political leaders to create jobs for Nigerian youths if the nation is to experience rest from banditry and other forms of criminality.

Pointing to the 33 per cent unemployment rate among the youth, which he described as disturbing, Tinubu said there is an urgent need for the country to recruit 50 million youths into the Nigerian Army and the police, so as to reduce joblessness among the youth.

“Recruit 50 million youths into the army,” he stated, adding that “what they will eat —cassava, corn, yam, will grow here.”

He said the recruitment process should not emphasise education or literacy but willingness to fight criminals.

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.”

Failure to address unemployment, he noted, will continue to allow bandits to take advantage and recruit young Nigerians for peanuts.

He maintained that massive job creation is a disincentive that will demobilise the youth and deplete the source of manpower for the terror group, Boko Haram