Home LOCAL Senator Odebiyi: Underage marriage in north responsible for insecurity

Senator Odebiyi: Underage marriage in north responsible for insecurity

447
0

The Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial district in the House of Assembly, has lamented the endless kidnapping for ransom, rape and all forms of insecurity perpetuated in the Northern part of the country.

Odebiyi identified the inclination of terrorists to underage marriage which is a culture in the north, stating that until underage marriage was stopped, it would continue to give room to procreation amid poverty.

He stated this while contributing to a motion titled: “Urgent need to surmount all kinds of kidnappings, banditry and related security challenges in Wasagu-Danko, Sakaba and Yauri Local Government Areas of Kebbi State”, which was sponsored by Senator Bala Ibn’Nallah, representing Kebbi South Senatorial district on Wednesday.

In his contribution, Senator Odebiyi maintained that high scale insecurity in the north would continue to linger due to “ad-hoc solution”, by the government, insisting that in tackling insecurity in the north and elsewhere, the solution must be taken deeper.

READ ALSO  APC Primary: EFCC operatives storm Eagle Square

“We seem to be very reactive and very adhoc on how we solve problems such as security in this country, but I think we need to go a bit deeper.

“It is a fertile ground for recruiting bandits, especially when you put that in conjunction with the breakdown of countries around Nigeria in the Sahel and all those areas, it will provide a fertile environment,” he said.

According to him, “when underage marriage takes place in poverty”, the couple gave birth in that condition and the baby grew up only to be recruited by criminal gangsters.

READ ALSO  VP Osinbajo charges traditional rulers on insecurity

The lawmaker further decried the increasing number of out of school children, noting that in nine years, Nigeria recorded ten million out of school children, a development, he said portended dangers.

“If you look at from 2013, we had about 4million children out of school, today you have 14m children out of school, add that to about 100 million people in poverty, especially if you look at the northeast and the northwest.

“If we sit down here by 2025, we will have 20million children out of school, the security issue in this country will continue to get worse.

READ ALSO  Buhari meets northern governors, pledges to put an end to insecurity in the region

“So, all these adhoc reaction of calling on Army, the police, we must have a compressive approach and declare a marshal law against out of school children.

“As long as we have poverty and more children out of school, as long as we have under age children giving birth, to more poverty, it is a fertile ground,” he further stated.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.