Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to the FCT Minister, has ignited a heated debate after linking irresponsible parenting to rising insecurity in Northern Nigeria.
In a controversial post shared on X on Tuesday, Olayinka questioned the growing trend of low-income earners marrying multiple wives and raising large families without the means to provide for them, warning that such patterns are fueling future instability.
He wrote, “This is one problem the North must begin to solve now. There is no reason a man who cannot properly take care of one wife and two children should marry three wives and produce fifteen or seventeen children.
“Many of today’s terrorists and bandits were once innocent children roaming the streets, hungry, uneducated, and forgotten.”
Olayinka pointed to the increasing number of street children in the Federal Capital Territory as a troubling indicator of what lies ahead if the issue is left unchecked.
“Each time I see them on major roads in Abuja carrying a plastic bowl, my questions are always How did they get here? Who are their parents? What will these unaccounted children become in future?” He asked.
He further argued that while government is often blamed for Nigeria’s challenges, certain social realities fall beyond state control, particularly cases of unchecked family expansion without economic capacity.
Olayinka wrote, “I am sure some people will still come here to blame the government. But what can the government do in the case of a gate-man earning say N60k per month, but has four wives and 17 children?”
“Abandoned children, like these ones, will certainly grow up angry, desperate and dangerous,” he warned.
His remarks have since stirred widespread reactions, reopening conversations around poverty, polygamy, child welfare, and their long-term implications for national security.
