Olanipekun: let’s create jobs to end slavery abroad

•Unemployment could spark revolution
Eminent lawyer Chief Wole Olanipekun  (SAN)  has said the massive unemployment is a time bomb that can cause a revolution.
Olanipekun urged governments and privileged Nigerians to create jobs for youths to stop them from going into slavery in foreign lands.
He noted that a situation where PhD holders roam the streets for jobs and beg for survival is shameful.
The legal icon was reacting to the footage of youths in dehumanising conditions at a slave camp in Libya.
He said privileged Nigerians have abandoned the youth, adding that this may not augur well for the nation’s future.
Olanipekun addressed reporters at the weekend at his Ikere-Ekiti home after the inauguration of the town’s Hall of Fame and launch of the community’s anthem at the palace of the Ogoga, Oba Adejimi Adu Alagbado.
The Ikere Hall of Fame was inaugurated by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II.
The monarch urged Ikere sons and daughters, led by Olanipekun, to support their royal father for further development of the town.
Olanipekun said the emigration of Nigerian youths to Benin Republic, Niger Republic, Chad Republic, Cameroun and their tortuous journey through the desert to Libya showed their frustration at home.
The former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) recalled that he had at least six job offers after graduating from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1975 and more job offers after leaving Law School but chose to go into private law practice.
He said: “It is a shame at this period that Nigerian youths still travel abroad and the routes they take are very tortuous, very winding, very dangerous and very daring. They don’t even mind if the ship they are travelling in capsizes.
“Why are they leaving? Some of them believe that ‘let me leave Nigeria because the Golden Fleece is somewhere else’; that the green pasture is outside Nigeria in Cotonou, in Cameroun, even in Niger Republic and Chad Republic.
“Nobody sympathises with them. You can see the fate of our youths nowadays. I want to say those of us who are very successful are selfish and greedy. We are not speaking the truth to our government.
“Our youths are going through another slave trade, and how do we stop it? The only way we can stop this is that we should create jobs for our youths. Government can encourage small scale and medium scale enterprises for our youths.
“If we don’t take care of our youths, if we do not sympathise with them, empathise with them and do not create a better tomorrow for them, we are – directly or indirectly, advertently or inadvertently – planting a revolution for the future.”
Olanipekun advised government not to muzzle the private sector but to empower it with good policies to enable it absorb jobless youths who migrate to foreign lands.
 
Olanipekun is voice of the Yoruba, says Ooni
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has described eminent lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAW), as an asset to the Yoruba race.
The frontline monarch spoke at the weekend when he visited Olanipekun at his native home at Ikere-Ekiti in Ekiti State.
The Ooni poured encomiums on Olanipekun for his “legal feat and patriotism to the Yoruba cause”.
He added: “I am here to pay a private visit to Asiwaju Wole Olanipekun and to commend him for the great work he is doing for the Yoruba race. He is one of our shining stars in Yoruba land. He is the voice of the voiceless and a legal icon, who has made us proud.”
Oba Ogunwusi said he had been following his progress before he ascended the throne, adding that “Olanipekun is a brand the Yoruba is happy to flaunt”.
He said: “You are our pride and joy in Yoruba land. I am happy to be here and I am most humbled by this reception.”
Olanipekun described the Ooni’s visit as “symbolic and historic”.
The eminent lawyer said he would forever cherish the visit.
He said: “Today is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. To have a foremost traditional ruler, Ooni Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi pay me a visit is worth cherishing forever.”
Olanipekun extolled the virtues of the Ooni, describing him as a king, who prepared himself for the throne.
He said: “Since he ascended the throne, he has been doing so much for the unity of the Yoruba race. He has gone to visit the Alaafin. Only a few days ago, he was at the coronation of the Akarigbo of Remo. He has gone to Efon Alaaye, Ijero Ekiti and other towns in Yoruba land. He has been going round the world to promote peace and unity among our people. Sometimes, I wonder where he draws his energy from. May God bless you, sir.”
The Ooni presented a souvenir to the lawyer.
|The Nation