The Federal Government should explore the possibility of engaging youths in border areas in the country as guards in order to curb smuggling.
The call was made at the weekend by the senator representing Ogun West District, Chief Tolu Odebiyi during the 3rd TOD Undergraduates Scholarship Award ceremony and launching of the Tolu Odebiyi Foundation in Ilaro.
He said the youths should be employed to assist security agencies.
His words: ”What I will advise the government to do is to employ the youths of the border communities as border guards to assist the security agencies. They know the terrain well and I am sure they will be of immense assistance to the quest to stop smuggling in the country.”
The senator who commented on the closure of the border said: “No nation wakes up one day and closes its border indefinitely the way Nigeria is trying to do. We will be hurting ourselves economically. We might cripple some of our local industries by so doing. There are several companies located in Agbara industrial area who deliberately sited their companies along the axis because they want to exploit the proximity to the border with Benin Republic. I am sure we are already hurting those companies.
”I completely appreciate that smuggling is injurious to our economy and to our local industries, and I must commend the president for his determination to assist the local industries to grow, but we must be creative in the way we tackle this problem. We must think out of the box. I believe we cannot achieve success with the way we are going. We need the buy-in of the people of the border communities.”
Meanwhile, Odebiyi has offered scholarship awards to 54 tertiary institution students from his district.
He also announced that he had secured the nod of the Federal Government to sponsor the Masters and Doctorate degree programmes of students from the district.
Two students, he said, would be sponsored to pursue each of the programmes overseas for the next four years.
The senator who expressed unhappiness over the activities of some men of the Customs Service in the border area of Ogun West, suggested that the Federal Government should explore the possibility of engaging youths in border areas in the country as a way of curbing smuggling .
Speaking at the third TOD undergraduates scholarship award ceremony and launching of the Tolu Odebiyi Foundation in Ilaro, Odebiyi explained that he decided to offer the award to ensure that brilliant students from his district were recognised and assisted to excel.
As far as he was concerned, “No student should be allowed to drop out of school on the account of the inability of his parents to fund his or her education.”
The senator explained that each of the 54 students would be given N100, 000 each every year until they graduate from school.
15 of the awardees are presently in first class category with GPA of 4.8 and above.
He added that the postgraduate approval he secured from the Federal Government for students each from the district to pursue Masters and Doctoral degrees for the next four years was because of the premium he placed on education and youth development.
While expressing sadness over the recent death of some youths in Ihunbo town in Ipokia local government area, he enjoined the security agencies to be more responsive when discharging their duties.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Mrs Shade Odebiyi, in her address explained that the foundation rested on four pillars which are Education, Healthcare, Widow Empowerment and Youth Empowerment.
She noted that the foundation also donated borehole and rehabilitated roads for needy communities in a quest to promote healthy living.
Dignitaries who witnessed the event held at the Yewa Frontier Hotel included the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle; the Olota of Ota, Oba Adeyemi Abdulkabir Obalanlege; Aboro of Iboro, Oba Abayomi Salako and the Adokun of Igan-Okoto, Oba Mukaila Salako.
Others at the event were former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Rahman Bello, Professor Tope Popoola, Prifessor John Aihosu, Dr. Dele Ogunsiji and Alhaji Abbas Olanigan among others.
