The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has clarified that he didn’t mean the Federal Government should recruit 50m youths into the army, but meant 50, 000 youths in order to combat the security challenges facing the country.

The APC chieftain made the clarification in a statement released by Mr. Tunde Rahman, of The Tinubu Media Office.

Recall that it was reported that Tinubu, during the 12th Bola Ahmed Tinubu Colloquium organised to mark his 69th birthday, advised the Federal Government to recruit 50 million youths into the Army.

However, the statement by Mr. Rahman clarified that the 50 million figure was a mistake, and that Tinubu intended to recommend the recruitment of 50,000 youths into various national security agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army.

It further stated that “Speaking at the event, Asiwaju Tinubu canvassed the urgent need to combine employment and national security policy by the recruitment of five million youths in all aspects of nation-building, ranging from infrastructural development to agricultural modernisation.

“He believes that the more job opportunities are presented to our youth the less some of them will be tempted into illegal and dangerous activities.

“As part of this overall approach, he believes that eligible youth should be recruited into the armed forces, police and other security agencies to augment the functional capacity of our security apparatus thus ensuring the better security and safety of our people.

“Asiwaju seeks the expansion of security personnel by 50,000 for the armed forces not the N50 million that was mentioned in error. It was an accidental verbal mistake of which we all commit from time to time especially when reciting a series of large numerical figures.

“He did not mean N50 million, which is almost a quarter of our total population.

The crucial matter is that Asiwaju rightly observed that such strong recruitment would serve the twin-purpose of helping to tackle unemployment while at the same time enhancing the security of every Nigerian.

“Please forgive any confusion due to this innocent error. The most vital thing is that he set forth a wise and timely approach that would help us face two of today’s stiffest challenges. It is in the spirit that we hope you view and assess his proposal for it seeks to provide a way for more youths to participate in building a greater, safer and more prosperous country.”