Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has clarified the statement he made on the recruitment of 50 million youths into the armed forces.
The former governor of Lagos in a statement by his spokesperson, Tunde Rahman, on Tuesday said it was an “accidental verbal mistake” when he said so at a colloquium to celebrate his 69th birthday on Monday.
He revealed that he meant to say 50,000 youths recruitment into the security architecture of the country.
This update is in relations to the widely spread news that Mr Tinubu on Monday called for massive recruitment in the military to tackle unemployment.
“Recruit 50 million youths into the army, take away from their (the insurgents)recruitment source,” he said.
Controversy
The statement made Bola Tinubu caused much controversy on social media as many Nigerians wondered how his statement would solve the current crisis Nigeria is faced with.
In the statement clarifying his principal’s position, Mr Rahman said “Asiwaju Tinubu canvassed the urgent need to combine employment and national security policy by the recruitment of five million youths in all aspects of nation-building, ranging from infrastructural development to agricultural modernisation.”
“He believes that the more job opportunities are presented to our youth the less some of them will be tempted into illegal and dangerous activities.
“As part of this overall approach, he believes that eligible youth should be recruited into the armed forces, police and other security agencies to augment the functional capacity of our security apparatus thus ensuring the better security and safety of our people.
