Cultural attraction from the recently celebrated Annual Delta Week in UNAAB. Inset is the Lagos State Asst. Comm. Of Police, Mr. Vincent Brown.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akopyibo has called on Nigerian youths to abstain from inordinate ambitions, restiveness and other vices, capable of militating against youth development and national security.
Mr. Akopyibo made this call while delivering a Lecture titled The Role of Youths in National Security and Development: A Review of the Niger-Delta situation, during the Annual Delta Week organized by the National Association of Delta State Students of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
The Commissioner who called for a positive correlation between youths, national security and development appealed to the youths to channel their dynamism and energy towards driving the nation’s economy.
Mr. Akoyibo, represented by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Operations), Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Vincent O. Brown highlighted several factors militating against youth development and national security to include drug abuse, delinquency, inordinate ambition, prostitution and militancy.
He, however, pointed out that these social vices can be curbed through quality education; skill acquisition; job creation; constructive social scheme and poverty eradication.
Mr. Akopyibo called for a halt in the attitude of some leaders who are in the habit of travelling abroad for medical help or send their children to schools overseas, while neglecting the opportunity of improving the standards of infrastructure in the country.
The Commissioner attributed youths’ restiveness especially in the Niger-Delta area as a direct consequence of years of callous exploitation of the oil resources in the area without ploughing-back an equitable portion towards the development of the communities and the people.
According to him, “the long term effect of this unfortunate development is the emergence of arms struggle by militants who believe they could achieve though arms struggle what dialogue have failed to achieve”.
He encouraged the youths to consider the vast opportunities in the small and medium scale enterprises in manufacturing local products, for the nation to experience meaningful breakthroughs in development and overcome global recession.
Earlier in his welcome Address, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Chryss Onwuka, commended the Delta State students in the University for being peace-loving and law abiding.
Professor Balogun encouraged the students to take advantage of their training in the University, as a platform to offer quality representation and needed change in the Niger-Delta area and Nigeria as a whole.
Appreciating dignitaries at the occasion, the President, National Association of Delta State Students, Mr. Ayamre Eduvie noted that the objective of the Association was to foster unity and cultural understanding among the different ethnic groups in Delta State.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olaiya Balogun, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Professor Chryss Onwuka and the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura, bagged separate awards for making the Campus and the State peaceful, comfortable and habitable for all.
