Nigeria Needs Family Restructuring To Curb Insecurity, Gangsterism, Says Osun Chief Whip

The lawmaker, representing Ife-North, made the statement on Tuesday during a media chat with journalists at the NUJ Correspondents’ chapel in Osogbo, the Osun state capital,

Olatunji, who noted that thuggery was a disfunctionality of the society over the years, said youths formed larger part of people who engaged in the act.

He said the reason for the social vices among the youths could be attributed to irresponsible parenting, broken homes, abject poverty among others.

The lawmaker suggested family restructuring amongst communities in Nigeria as a panacea to ending insecurity and economic predicament.

He noted that a large percentage of youths involved in crimes are from broken homes with fragmented family structure, and deficient parenting.

“Nigeria nation was being threatened by fragmented family setting with attendant erosion of societal values.”

Olatunji said the real restructuring towards socio-economic challenges of Nigeria must start from the families, thorough reorientation to put the smallest social unit in the right form.

The Ife born politician also frowned at the rate at which Nigeria’s population was growing geometrically, while economic growth is at arithmetic sequence to the detriment of majority of the citizenry.

“Array of our socio-economic challenges, which presently threaten our survival as a nation emanate from the fragmented family setting in Nigeria, in which quality parenting is obviously absent.

“I make bold to say that over 80 per cent of young people in crime are either from broken homes or fragmented families. That is a serious factor that continued to aggravate our National security challenges and thereby threaten our corporate entity.

“This issue must be tackled holistically by addressing the menace of lopsided family structure as a way of finding lasting solution to our socioeconomic challenges “, he said. 

Advising the Federal government to control the trend of increase in the population, which according to him, comes without commensurate growth in productivity.

Olatunji opined that the recent figure that puts Nigeria’s population at over 200million should be a thing of great concern to all Nigerians, in the absence of advancement in the country’s level of productivity.

“A constant increase in the population of a country like Nigeria is a big disadvantage to us if it continues to rise only in figure and not in human capital.

Olatunji solicited for the support of the media in tackling the issue of thuggery and crime, which he said deterred growth and development in the state.

He called for a synergy between the media and the legislature in tackling the issue of thuggery and gangsterism in order to make the state safer for all.