The leader of the United Kingdom (UK’s) Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch has slammed the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer over what she described as leniency with the youths.
Badenoch, who has been a vocal critic of the Nigerian government, told the UK government to follow the footsteps of Nigeria in making sure that any youth who goes against the law is made to face the consequences.
Badenoch, who once famously described Nigeria as a place where “everything was broken”, has suddenly pivoted to holding that very nation up as a shining beacon of discipline.
In a fiery statement, the Conservative leader criticised the UK’s leniency with youths, demanding that Britain adopt a Nigerian-style “tough love” approach to rein in what she describes as a generation of “entitled” and “over-indulged” British youths.
She said Britain convinced itself that crime, idleness, and bad behaviour are things to be explained away rather than clamped down upon, thereby trying to be everyone’s “therapist, careers adviser or youth worker”.
According to Kemi Badenoch, “All of us were shocked by the phone footage of children smashing up shops in broad daylight, stealing, laughing, filming themselves as though it were a game.
“Some commentators immediately reached for a racial explanation, but that was to miss the point completely.
“While the majority of young looters in Clapham, south London, seemed to have Caribbean or African heritage, the fact is that children in Lagos and Nairobi do not behave that way.
“Why? Because in Nigeria and Kenya, the boundaries are clear and actions have consequences. Parents, communities, and authorities do not wring their hands or look the other way. It’s a lesson we’ve forgotten here.
“We didn’t get here overnight. For years, there’s been a drip, drip, drip of institutional and cultural change, not least the belief that social programmes matter more than tough enforcement in maintaining discipline. I profoundly disagree.”
“It’s no wonder the police are at the end of their tether. Last year, almost 4,500 officers quit before they had completed their probation. Walking a beat in Croydon last month, I asked the sergeant escorting me about his main frustration.
“His reply echoed the feelings of my local officers in Essex. They are tired of arresting the same people week in week out only to see them get off scot-free, or be released just a few weeks later.
“There is a way forward, of course, and it’s called enforcement. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of rules in Britain, after all – it’s the failure to apply them that’s the problem. Referring to the impact of illegal migration, Kemi Badenoch referred to the positive effect of the Conservative Party’s deportation plan.
“We see the same lack of consequences when it comes to those who enter Britain illegally. The small boats and lorry loads keep arriving, whereupon yet more illegal migrants follow.
“This is why the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan was so critical.
“Merely the threat of deportation to central Africa was a deterrent in itself, with illegal migrants reportedly bypassing Britain and going to Ireland instead. When Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme, small boat crossings hit new highs and asylum claims reached record levels.
“Our increasing addiction to ‘welfareism’ is another facet of the same problem. If people believe there are no consequences for not working, their behaviour changes accordingly.”
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that this development comes amid Badenoch’s several criticisms of the Nigerian government.
Last year, she famously had a back-and-forth with Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima over the situation of the country.
