Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Chairman, Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council and Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, has decried the rate of youth restiveness in the country, urging that urgent steps be taken by government, families and faith-based organisations to arrest the vice.
The monarch stated this when he received the Director, Centre for Strategic Leadership and Youth Orientation, Dr. Kingsley Ubaoji, at the traditional rulers council office at the Government House, Awka.
According to Igwe Achebe, the increase in youth restiveness in recent years was an offshoot of the abuse of youths by politicians for electoral malpractices and cultism.
He advised parents to assist government and traditional institutions by reporting recalcitrant children to palaces of traditional rulers in their communities or authorities saddled with the responsibility of reforming citizens.
“It is only through reforms that such excesses can be curtailed,” Achebe said.
The monarch said after being reformed, if the restive youths were still found to be engaged in vices like drug addiction, cultism and robbery, they should be handed over to law enforcement agencies for prosecution.
He particularly lamented the rate at which youths take to cultism, saying nothing good comes out of it, and that it rather leads its victims to death, drug abuse, sexual assaults, gambling, vandalism and a life of intimidation.
Achebe, who condemned the use of youths as political thugs, applauded the Centre for Strategic Leadership for championing the cause of youth reforms.
Director of the Centre, Dr. Kingsley Ubaoji expressed joy at the reception by the traditional rulers and called for their partnership and support in curbing youth restiveness.