By Osa Amadi & Chris Onuoha

THE Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has said with the rising rate of youth unemployment, Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

The Ooni of Ife, who spoke to Vanguard in Ile-Ife, said: “We are sitting on a keg of gunpowder, because Nigerian youths are getting wilder and wilder by the day. 70 percent of our people are youths and we are not even talking about birth control.

“Every weekend, you will be getting invitations to weddings and after wedding, children will come. Nobody is talking about these things. So it is about time we used our culture, heritage and tradition to mould and mentor the up-coming ones.”

Throwing his weight behind the clamour for the country’s restructuring, Oba Ogunwusi said it has its own advantages.

His words: “I am not a politician, so can only advise. It is a very political question. But what is ideal for us is for every region to focus on their comparative advantage. Competition is the best. You thrive in a healthy competition.

“If one region does better than the others, the other regions can come and borrow from that region. It is still Nigeria first. Nobody is saying it shouldn’t be Nigeria.

“Let us create competitions in the regions. It worked before. It will work again.”