Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has warned that the 19 northern states in Nigeria are “sitting on a time bomb” due to the region’s explosive birth rate. He revealed that the Northern Governors’ Forum will soon begin discussions on the issue. The governor made the disclosure while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Mutfwang expressed concern that the lack of infrastructure for human capital development of the youth bulge in the region may escalate banditry and terrorism. He also attributed the disruption of the recent #EndBadGovernance protests in the state to external elements.
Mutfwang criticized the northern elite for failing to take responsibility for the young population, allowing criminally minded individuals to control and indoctrinate them into insurgency and banditry.
He said, “We don’t have an option. At this point, we must take the bull by the horn. I am pretty sure that a lot of the northern elite do not have their children on the streets; they send their children to elite schools locally and internationally.
“If that is the situation, it is not so much about how many children you give birth to, but that we must be able to put measures in place that if you give birth to children, you must take responsibility for those children. It must be a carrot-and-stick strategy that we’ll put in place.
“I don’t want to say this is the maximum number of children you must have. That is a dialogue that is beyond me but I can assure you that from the Forum of Northern Governors, we are going to initiate this dialogue. We are going to make sure we broaden it to a national consultation.
“We must know that religion has a responsibility to society and we must ensure that religion does not become a setback to society. We must then be able to bring religious leaders in tandem with global realities.”