Bishop Dr. Felix Onomeregbor is a UN member for Peace, Unity and Development , Nigeria. In this interview with Saturday Vanguard Business, he bares his mind on the need for government to empower the youths even as he goes into Niger Delta communities empowering people and also preaching peace and reconciliation through his prophetic voice world outreach. Excerpts:

As a UN ambassador for peace, unity and development , you have been carrying out community and youth empowerment programmes and also clamouring for Niger Delta youth empowerment, what informed this campaign?

As a Niger Delta person and also a gospel minister, I believe ministers are in a better position to tell government what is happening at the grassroots because we are closer to the communities and interact with them on a daily basis. So if any leader in government wants to handle community development or tackle crisis-ridden communities, I believe the first thing to do is to approach church leaders in that community because some churches have plans for community outreach.

However, my passion for youth empowerment in Niger Delta is based on the fact that youths are the live wire of any nation. Any nation where youths are not positioned for the future, that nation will always have crisis; reason being that one day, those in power will pass on and at that time, if the future generations are not groomed to take over power as leaders, we would also have a repetition of a failed state.

Again, coming from a poor background made me discover many areas youths can be helped to prevent youth restiveness, communal crisis, armed robbery etc. This is why I do not only have passion for youth empowerment ,but also draw attention of government, meaningful and wealthy Nigerians even in Niger Delta to rescue youths from unemployment as well as rescue our nation.

But more industries are dying, youths are thrown into labour market and government can’t provide all the jobs, how do we tackle this?

There is no economy where government provides all the jobs or total welfare package for its citizens. Having said that, few factors also are responsible for economic development which government must be deeply involved in – steady power supply which attracts foreign investors, as well as capacity building. Nigerians can create jobs  for themselves if there is steady power supply.

Again, for any economy to grow, the government in that nation must provide security to lives and property so that investors will be assured of security for their investment. Good road network system that guarantees free movement of goods and services helps any economy to grow. Good communication system also plays a role in nation building.

These are factors that attract investors to any part of the world. But government cannot do it all alone and that is why we have NGOs and other grassroot organisations that can partner government to achieve developments needed in a country like Nigeria. Major challenges facing governance today is that our leaders refuse to realise or don’t know the pains at the grassroots.

Most of our leaders are quick to forget their yesterday. I read sometime ago that somebody in government looted N22 billion, another N300m and things like that. If these looters would use the money they stole from government to develop their communities, at least build some industries that can employ up to 200 youths in that area, it will be difficult to see youths carrying arms or fighting.

What is causing communal crisis in many communities today is that those in government are not caring for the youths who gave them their votes to represent them in government. They only enrich their families and that is all.

We see that many communities in Nigeria including Niger Delta lack development, as a peace ambassador, what do you need from government to carry out this work?

If the census of Nigeria is correct, Nigeria’s population
is up to 150 million , but I believe if it is well counted, we are more than that. What I’m asking for, give me two billion naira, you will never see criminal youths in Delta State. You can’t see youths again roaming the streets. We have our strategies. First, every idle youth needs empowerment. How do you empower these youths? These youths are not even asking you to give them millions.

For instance, I can empower youths through agriculture. And when that is done through experts with the fund well distributed, you hardly can see any youth in Niger Delta with gun, machete or involve in armed robbery. I would rehabilitate and reorient them physically and spiritually. As peace ambassador, there are other methods to apply to make them better off and they would not like to involve themselves with evil. So, anywhere government can send us with my prophetic instructions if observed will bring about peace in that community.

What role do you want government to play?

President Jonathan is
trying. But major challenge in Nigeria is we have a lot of people at the corridors of power who are deceitful and don’t know what to do. They are not ready to solve the problem in the country but are after money. I advise the government to empower people like us to carry out some of these grassroots development and peace will reign in our country.