“It’s the house rat that tells the bush rat to come inside, that there is enough food inside the house” ~ Benin proverb.
I often watch with great astonishment, the energy and efforts put in place in deporting Edo youths from North Africa, Europe, and most recently Asian countries. I wonder if the whole of them in government seriously don’t understand the futility of their efforts, or they are aware but just playing politics with the situation.
No matter how much we spend to bring back these young people to the state, it will be an effort in futility if they return to meet those at home in the worst states than themselves. If a ‘deportee’ is looking well fed than the ‘deporter’, don’t you think it will end up triggering the problem we are trying to solve? The youths at home will want to go there too, seeing those that came back looking fresh and well fed.
But if we create opportunities for young people to succeed here in the state, and the youths are doing great, those suffering abroad will come home on their own volition. Their family members that are doing well financially can even arrange for their return without stressing the state government. And the state will not be bothered integrating them back to society at their return. It will be a win-win situation for everyone.
When elected, I will work with other brilliant minds to increase the budget in developing infrastructure that has a greater effect in helping youths to excel. Partnership with foreign bodies and organisations that will help train and engage our youths productively, will be sought and brought to the state.
For example, solar energy is the next big thing in terms of power generation. The state can partner a producer of solar panels and get them to train our youths. While they employ the ones they want, others can get employed by other companies, or be encouraged to start something small on their own.
The era of digging boreholes and sharing peanuts for youths to buy beer will be over.
All we need is to vote in a visionary leader with good foresight!
