Former President, General Abdusalami Abubakar, on Thursday, noted that the nation continued to face various security challenges because several Nigerians were not gainfully employed.

According to Abubakar, unemployment of Nigerians, coupled with the fact that the nation did not boast of a robust economic base, was responsible for kidnap, terrorism, armed robbery, agitations and other criminalities that the current government continued to grapple with.

Abubakar, who spoke after a courtesy call on Governor Seyi Makinde at governor’s office, Ibadan, stressed that the President Muhammadu Buhari led government must provide the needed economic base and get Nigerians engaged to stem the current security challenges in the country.

In addition, he emphasized the need for Nigerians to assist the government’s fight against insecurity by volunteering information whenever they sniff of criminal tendencies in their domains.

ALSO READ: Gov Mohammed inaugurates panel to recover looted funds, property in Bauchi

“We cannot leave the issue of peace to the government alone. Each and every one of us has a role to play in trying to ensure that they pass any information that they think will be helpful. If you see strange faces in your area or those people who want to make trouble, it is your civic right to report such individuals.

“However, the government, on its part, should try to provide economic base and activity for the individuals so that individuals will be involved in making life comfortable for themselves so they wouldn’t have any time to go and cause trouble,” Abubakar said.

On his efforts to ensure the security of the state, Governor Seyi Makinde said he had begun gathering data on the existing security architecture, with a view to identifying leakages and implementing necessary changes.

He assured that changes in the security architecture will become more visible in coming days.

“Yesterday, I visited the Oyo State security trust fund because we are trying to have a deep appreciation of what we have on ground and know where we want to go.

“We are in a phase where we are getting all the data, know where the gaps reside and in a very short time, you will start seeing changes in the security architecture of the state,” Makinde said.