In a bid to stamp out criminalities and ensure total peace in Ilesa and its environs, some traditional rulers and other leaders of Ijesaland have met with Area boys in the town and sensitised them on the need to shun cultism, gangsterism and other criminal activities in the town.
This came as the town also disclosed that soon, challenges posed by illegal mining activities would be a thing of the past as efforts are ongoing to partner with government with the aim of preventing further destruction of lands by artisanal miners.
This was disclosed by the Asiwaju of Ijesaland, Chief Olayinka Fasuyi, while featuring as a guest speaker at the 45th edition of The Frontliners, a flagship programme of the Osun League of Veteran Journalists in Osogbo.
Fasuyi said the decision to meet with the Area boys was born of the efforts at tackling various forms of security challenges in the town, adding that some job opportunities were proposed to the young men for their consideration as means of livelihood.
The ‘Area boy’ term traditionally refers to young people who drop out of school or do not attend school at all, have learnt no skills to earn them a living, and who live rough on the streets, constituting nuisance in a subculture of drugs and petty crime.
Fasuyi said some traditional rulers were in attendance at the meeting held in Ilesa and that they urged the young men to embrace legitimate means of livelihood and allow Ijesaland experience total peace.
According to the major stakeholder in Ijesaland, the Area boys were asked to take up agriculture and that the people of the town would assist them in having educational qualifications.
While reacting to the arrest of some Boko Haram suspects in Ilesa, Fasuyi expressed happiness at their prompt arrest, saying efforts are being undertaken to prevent ugly occurrence in Ijesaland.
“We give glory to God for not allowing their evil plan to materialise. We have security initiative and we need local government hands. Loval government was handicapped because of financing. It will be our job to meet with the LGA leadership on how we can improve continually our security situation. We are talking to the traditional rulers to improve on the security situation. We have a blueprint on security which I can’t disclose here,” he said.
Speaking further on efforts to instill hope of better future in Osun youths, Fasuyi stated, “Ijesa Community Development Assembly met with all the Area boys, we had a meeting with them yesterday. We told them there is no future in the trade. We told them we will create opportunities for them and that those who are interested in agriculture will be enrolled in Leventis School of Agriculture. They were all happy. Some of our traditional rulers also warned them against social nuisance they have involved themselves into. So, their case is not written off.”
Fasuyi further revealed that the creation of the Ijesa Mineral Resources Development Forum (IMRDF) has curbed illegal mining in Ijesaland, stating that the situation would have been far worse without its intervention.
He said environmental hazards caused by illegal mining have reduced drastically because IMRDF has been sensitising the people of Ijesaland on the dangers of allowing illegal miners to operate in their communities.
He stressed that over the past five years, IMRDF has been actively engaging local communities and the state government, raising awareness about the dangers of unregulated mining activities and their environmental impact.
According to him, “Along the line, we notice that people started migrating from farming to mining and along this same line, we observed that the illegal mining activities have started popping up with devastating environmental implications.
“And that gave birth to the Ijesha Mineral Resources Development Forum, IMRDF, and in the past 5 years has been going around communities in Ijesha, and sensitizing people at our expense without taking a dime from any government all of this just to ensure that things are better.
“Things would have been worse today if not for the intervention of IMRDF, so we keep calling, we have made several visits to the state government, going around the communities and educating them.”
