A call has gone to indigenes of Ilorin in Kwara State, in and outside Nigeria, to support the current leadership of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) to achieve economic fortunes in the emirate.

Speaking at the maiden economic summit of the union in Ilorin, the National President of the union, Justice Saka Yusuf, said both the traditional leadership of the emirate and IEDPU executive members were worried about the downturn in the economy of the emirate which he said has increased youth unemployment.

Yusuf, a former Chief Judge of Kwara State and the pioneer Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, who was chairman of the event, called on well-meaning indigenes of the emirate to rise to the occasion and establish enterprises that could support youth employment as it was in the past.

The two jurists in their separate statements said that government alone could not do the job and appealed for support towards the establishment of an endowment fund by the union to aid its youth engagement programmes.

"There is no doubt that the economy of the country is in a mess not to talk of that of Ilorin. All of us here today were witnesses to what obtained in the olden days here with many industries all around and there were jobs available for young people.

"But due to the economic downturn in the country which also affected Ilorin adversely, the situation is no longer the same. The situation is giving us concern in IEDPU, the emir and other traditional rulers are also not happy that our youths have no jobs. We don't want the situation to lead to violence in the community," he said

Also speaking, Akanbi, while commending IEDPU for the initiative which he said had enhanced the union's activities beyond its annual calendar launch, noted that no one should wait again for government in dealing with the economic challenges facing the community.

He tasked leaders of the union to take a step further in analysing the aggregate of ideas presented in the various papers delivered at the event and map out a plan of action for their actualisation.

"We cannot wait for government manna to fall. It is time for positive action to ensure that Ilorin comes back to its old days of glory. It is time for action. We have talked enough. We need to embark on programmes that will build the capacity of our youths for jobs because from our personal experience with some of them they might have gone to school but they still don't have what it takes to secure good jobs; many of them can't even speak good english, yet they are graduates from colleges of education and so on," he said.