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Lagos lawmaker says most Nigerian youths are always high on drugs
Alli-Macaulay said this during a plenary at the Lagos State House of Assembly while speaking on looting and destruction of properties that followed Endsars protest in Lagos.
She, therefore, called on the National Orientation Agency to be alive to its responsibilities to change the attitude of the youths.
The lawmaker said, “The National Orientation Agency needs to get to work. We need to begin to orientate our young people. They need people who can talk to them from time to time. They are high on drugs all the time, most of them. They go to social media and say all sorts of things. I’m even scared to give my young children phones because I am scared of what they may see on social media. It is that bad.”
She further said unemployment should not be an excuse for looting, saying ‘there is unemployment across the world, even in the United States’.
She said, “I schooled in the UK and I saw a lot of young people who were not employed but they didn’t become hoodlums. Why can’t we look inwards and look for solutions to our problems?
She argued that instead of complaining about unemployment, unemployed graduates could develop their talents or seek jobs in the informal sector.
She said, “Why can’t the young people look within themselves, look for their talents? Even if you are a graduate, what stops you from being a designer or a professional tile man and make a brand of it? There is no excuse for being a hoodlum.”
Earlier on Thursday, Nigerians dragged a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot for describing the youths as children.
Elliot while speaking on the aftermath of Lekki shooting said he was shocked to see the ‘children’ cursing and insulting their leaders on social media.
He has since apologised for his take on the unrest that followed the endsars protest in the state, his comment was borne out of the magnitude of destruction of properties and looting of businesses that followed the Endsars protest in Lagos.