A consultant in training and research, Dr Adejoke Akinseye, has said that street urchins causing insecurity in different parts of the country can be rehabilitated and made to become useful and productive citizens.
Akinseye, who holds PhD in Mathematics and worked to rehabilitate black youths involved in gun crime and night crimes in the United Kingdom before returning to Nigeria, said this in an interview with our correspondent in Ibadan on Tuesday.
Akinseye, who said she spent over two decades in the UK, stated that she had been rehabilitating and empowering streets boys in Ibadan with her personal fund since she returned to Nigeria in 2017.
Akinseye, who is contesting to represent Ibadan North-East and Ibadan South-East Federal Constituency on the House of Representatives on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, said she was willing to contribute her quota to the development of the country and to have a bigger platform to train and empower more people.
She said, “I have taken over 100 area boys away from the streets and have empowered them.
“They are trading and doing well for themselves. These area boys can still be useful to themselves and the country. We need to move closer to them to know what they are facing.
“ Women should also be given opportunities to serve the country.
If women are given the chance, this country will be transformed. Women are natural leaders. Women are compassionate. Women are intelligent and are full of passions. Women are full of potentials.
“You will see them in many informal sectors, and they are doing fine. Give them a chance, include them in decision-making and you will see how great this county will be.
“Give them the opportunity to serve as leaders in policy-making, you will see how far they can go in moving the country forward. When women are involved in a project, there is every tendencies for such project to be successful.
“What most of the lawmakers are doing now is what I have been doing in the past seven years, using my own money. I can only do more and even improve on it because it is my passion and it comes naturally to me.
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