Far North: Idle youth vulnerable to Boko Haram

A report by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT) has stated that young people aged 15 to 24 are in a situation of underemployment and are vulnerable to Boko Haram.

According to a 2007 study by the MINEPAT, under the technical supervision of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the proportion of the population living below the poverty line increased from 18.8% to 24.6% between 2001 and 2007.

The Emergence newspaper reported on Tuesday, December 15, 2015, that almost all the young people of the Far North region turned to the informal sector, "which is to date by far the largest employer in the country."

According to an administrative authority of that region, Boko Haram recruits some of the young Cameroonians.

"In recent months, Nigerian terrorists were recruited in the locality Kolofata, Tokombéré and Mora in the Mayo Sava Department and Kousseri, Goulfey, Waza, Zina, Blangoua, Fotokol in the Department of Logone-et-Chari, the young Cameroonians whose age varies between 16 and 23 years," she revealed.

Large sums of money are offered to lure young people looking for easy money. The anarchic interpretation of the Koran also allows followers of the Islamic sect to attract those people living in total insecurity.

To believe the source from which the newspaper was careful to deliver the name, these young people are also recruited by Boko Haram under duress.

"If you refuse, they slaughter you like a sheep," she said, adding that, "Boko Haram slaughter anyone who tries to oppose them. Nobody has any right to object to these men. Whoever you are, they have their informants who provide information about those who speak ill of them or demonize them."