Ooni Faces Youth Unemployment.

It was Recently reported that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II has acquired about 30 square miles of land in Ile Ife for cocoa, oil palm and rubber plantation. The agricultural investment, according to the monarch, targets the creation of about 40,000 job opportunities for the youth in the area. The monarch, who was also reported to have said that he has dedicated this year, 2016, to youth development, expressed the hope that the agricultural initiative would further reduce crime rate in Ile Ife, when it comes into effect.

This initiative is not the first by Ooni Ogunwusi. Already, about 3,000 youths are currently engaged at the ongoing project site of Ife Grand Resort, spanning over 1000 acres of land, established by the monarch to provide job opportunities for the people.  His specific targets are beyond the shores of Ile Ife.
Since his enthronement, the Ooni of Ife has left no one in doubt as to his love for his people, especially the youth. This has manifested in his determination to see to the development of his domain and the entire country. Though relatively young, he has shown so far that the ability to be a good leader is not necessarily a function of age, but about focus and the zeal to make a difference.

Traditional institutions in our society, apart from the local government authorities, are the institutions closest to the people. The people pay obeisance to them and their word is law in some cultures. Apart from being the custodians of the culture and traditional beliefs and values of their people, traditional rulers can do more as exemplified by Ooni Ogunwusi. It is becoming more glaring by the day that a lot of issues such as security and job creation can no longer be left in the hands of government alone hence the need for traditional institutions to join efforts in these critical areas. Some traditional rulers have done well in the area of security in their domains, and this is commendable.

However, the initiatives by the Ooni, especially the one on agriculture, which will create massive job opportunities should be a challenge and serve as a wakeup call to other traditional institutions that they can do more to assist their people specifically, and the country at large. With farms such as the one initiated by the Ooni of Ife employing up to 40,000 youths in every state of the federation, that will be a tidy 1,440,000 jobs which will, no doubt, go a long way in checking youth restiveness and other deviant behaviour associated with joblessness.

We, therefore, urge other heads of traditional institutions to, in whatever way they can, in their domains, start initiatives that will ensure that peace reign in their areas and see to both social and economic advancement of their subjects.
It is our hope that the youth will leverage on this gesture by the Ile Ife monarch to improve their circumstances and see it as an opportunity to pull themselves up from the pit holes of poverty. We observe that in more cases than not, youths see agriculture as below their dignity and prefer non-existent white collar jobs. That is part of the problem of youth unemployment.

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