Osun Chief Whip Seeks Media Support Against Thuggery, Gangsterism

The Chief Whip of Osun House of Assembly, Olalekan Olatunji, has solicited for the support of the media in tackling the issue of thuggery and crime, which he said could deterred growth and development in the state.

Olatunji said the media had important role to play in creating awareness, informing and also educating the public on the danger of thuggery and gangsterism to the development and growth of the state.

The lawmaker representing Ife-North, was speaking 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.

He 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.

Olatunji noted that Nigeria nation was being threatened by fragmented family setting with attendant erosion of societal values.

The lawmaker noted that the real restructuring towards socio-economic challenges of Nigeria must start from the families, through thorough reorientation to put the smallest social unit in the right form.

Olatunji 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

He further advised 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 called on the media to champion and also advocate for responsible citizens, which would make the society a better place to be.

He also 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