*Delivers UI 546th inaugural lecture
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
A Professor of Counselling Psychology and Peace Studies and
former acting Director of Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CEPACS), University of Ibadan, Prof. Ayobami Hammed has called for the creation of a National Crime Prevention Commission.
Presenting the 546th edition of the University of Ibadan inaugural lecture series Titled “We Die Here Today! Youth Violence, Social Dysfunction, and a Counselling Psychologist’s Pathway to Peace”, the University Don said this will go a long way in addressing the disturbing trend of youth violence across the country.
Prof Hammed maintained that the proposed agency would be saddled with the responsibility of designing, implementing and monitoring a national policy on peace education that is specifically tailored towards equipping the youth with such skills that will help them stay away from tendencies to get involved in violent acts.
According to the University Don,
“Peace education can help prevent youth violence and radicalism by teaching youth about the advantages of peace and conflict transformation skills”.
“Government could partner with private organizations and strengthen early warning systems to curb youth violence. Parents, teachers, guardians, and siblings should also be educated on identifying red flags indicating a child is joining a cult or being bullied”, he said.
Prof Hammed added, The aim of this lecture has been to shine light on a problem or a series of problems that seem perennial and to argue for why it is important that we chart a path to an enduring solution”.
” The pursuit of that solution has been my preoccupation for the better part of the last twenty-eight years of my life as an academic on this campus,”
While expressing concern over the growing reported cases of youth involvement in violence and criminal activities across the country, he called for the active involvement of all relevant stakeholders including parents, the academia, private sector, media and all tiers of government.
Prof Hammed maintained that more was the rate at which the incident of violent acts are recorded among the younger generation of the youth population adding that the development poses potent existential threat to the socio-political and economic future of the country.
He also called for quality education, positive role model, economic empowerment, among others as ways through which the society can effectively combat the menace of youth violence.
