Former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday, retracted his call for the recruitment of 50 million youths into the Nigerian Army and other security agencies, saying he actually meant to say 50,000 youths.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, in his address at his 12th colloquium, held in Kano State on Monday, had called for the recruitment of 50 million Nigerian Youths into the Army, Nigeria Police Force (NPF), among other security agencies, in a bid to combat the rising insecurity challenges rocking the country.
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The call has since generated massive reactions from Nigerians who described the call as laughable given the fact that the total population of Nigeria is about 200 million.
The last census conducted in 2006, put the population of Nigeria at 140 million. However, the latest Worldometer report of the United Nations (UN), estimated that Nigeria’s population is about 209 million.
Tinubu, through a statement by his media aide, Tunde Rahman, described the call as an innocent error.
Rahman noted that Tinubu, at the event, also called for the recruitment of 5 million youths in various sectors ranging from security, agriculture, infrastructural development, among others, in a bid to reduce the criminal activities in the country, given the fact that an ‘idle hand is the devil’s workshop’.
The statement reads in part: “Asiwaju seeks the expansion of security personnel by 50,000 for the Armed Forces not the 50 million that was mentioned in error. It was an accidental verbal mistake which we all commit from time to time, especially when reciting a series of large numerical figures. He did not mean 50million, which is almost a quarter of our total population. The crucial matter is that Asiwaju rightly observed that such strong recruitment would serve the twin-purpose of helping to tackle unemployment while at the same time enhancing the security of every Nigerian…”
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