The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Adewale Martins, has harped on the need for the three tiers of government to create more jobs for the teeming youths to dissuade them from engaging in ritual killings and other social vices.

The Bishop made the call on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

According to the cleric, the difficulties in securing jobs have made some youths, who did not have the right values, to go into ritual killings, mass migration among other vices.

The religious leader said vices would be curbed when the leaders thought more of the youths than self.

“We can only continue to tell people that in the end, crime does not pay; engaging in ritual activities or other vices makes a person sell his or her soul to the devil.

“So we must constantly tell youths that values of faith in God, values of integrity and honesty, hard work and labour supersede the short term gains of rituals and scamming,’’ he said.

The Director of Project, Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), Mr Jubri Abdullahi, also urged the leaders to provide good infrastructure and conducive working environment for youths to curb migration.

Abdullahi said: “Youths are the future of this country; they should be equipped with employment or empowered.

“Nigerians are faced with multiple of challenges, what is paramount is how to ensure that there is infrastructure in place that works for people.

“Power is very important, training is also important, especially functional education, which teaches people what to do and how to do it; what is important for people is to earn a living.

“Migration is a human phenomenon, people have been migrating for long; however, mass migration will have negative effect on our nation.”

According to him, if mass migration is not controlled, a lot of people with skilled labour will continue to migrate and the development will have an implication on the nation’s economy.

“What the government needs to do is to provide a better working environment for youths to be able to contribute their quota to the development of the country,” he said.