The Minister of Youths and Sports, Sunday Dare, has berated former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent comments on unemployment.
Obasanjo had recently described rising youth unemployment in the country as worrisome and a ticking time bomb.
Reacting during an interview with PUNCH, Sunday Dare stated that Obasanjo failed to address it when he held power for eight years.
According to him, had Obasanjo laid the groundwork successive leaders would have followed same pathway.
He said: “What did President Obasanjo do to address youth unemployment when he was in power for eight years?
“If he had built and laid down a sustainable model, subsequent governments would have followed through because it is not enough to say it is a time bomb.”
The minister however stated that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is doing something different.
“Youth unemployment and general unemployment have been with us for a long time, it didn’t start just six years ago; it didn’t start on this President’s watch.
“You must also link it with the international economic trajectory,” he said.
Dare noted that before COVID-19, economies struggle from North America to Europe and the rest of the world.
He pointed out that revenues were dwindling, nations were running into massive debts, including America, adding that things got worse with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The data are there, it is a global village, Nigeria is not an island, Nigeria is not insulated from these global shocks and what happened eventually.
“You saw the level of poverty rising, people losing their employment, more people becoming underemployed, some unemployed. So, I am just giving you a realistic perspective,” Sunday Dare said.
This article was originally published on Naija News
