Some residents of Bauchi have called for the upscaling of Federal Government’s youth empowerment programme this year to effectively curb youth restiveness and general insecurity in the country.
The people made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Wednesday.
They expressed concern over the increasing rate of thuggery, youth restiveness and insecurity in different parts of the country.
According to them, youth empowerment can help to reduce the teeming size of unemployed youths.
They argued that empowering the youths would help them to engage in legitimate and decent businesses, “which will ultimately lead to poverty reduction”.
A member of a civil society organisation in Bauchi, Mrs Dinatu Daniel, described the army of unemployed youths in the country as worrisome.
“These youths need to be engaged in something that would earn them decent living and keep their minds off crime and criminality. The Federal Government should initiate more comprehensive youth empowerment programmes that will offer the youths the skills and knowledge they need to survive and succeed in life,” Daniel said.
Another resident, Sani Mohammed, said the country was faced with many challenges, including bad governance, climate change, insecurity and youth migration, among others.
Mohammed, a retired civil servant and businessman, said: “However, despite the various problems, there is still hope.”
“Part of this hope is that some of the youths are willing and committed to be self-reliant but lacked the support and opportunity. The youths are the future leaders but to reach their full potential, government at all levels must make concerted efforts to implement policies and programmes that will empower them.”
Also, Dr Dalhatu Abdulahi said that people have high expectations that things would get better in 2024 but urged the Federal Government “to change the narrative”.
Reintroducing quality education from primary to secondary schools can help to empower the youths by preparing them for the jobs of the future and being able to work at high-level positions.
“Weak primary and secondary educational foundation can lead to a low-quality workforce. Introducing Information Communication Technology at the basics is therefore imperative to build quality workforce for the future,” Abdulahi said.
He urged the government to intentionally engage the youths in talent development and skills training.
He said that many Nigerian youths were highly talented but lacked the requisite support to develop and harness their potential to attain greatness.
“They tend to discard their talent over the years. Talent development is an approach that helps to support the youths to discover and enahance their capacities in areas they were already excelling.“ he said.
“With government’s help, employers also play a critical role in boosting employment opportunities for youths by providing job facilitation to match young job seekers with job offers,” he said.
The respondents, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to develop strategies that would promote youth empowerment and employment opportunities in 2024.
