By Lola Idahosa, Kaduna
The Kaduna State Government has said it had adopted a robust policy of empowering youths to reduce the level of insecurity in the state.
Governor Mukhtar Yero stated this through his Media Aide, Mallam Ahmed Maiyaki in an interview with Newsmen in Kaduna.
Yero said so far, the government had trained 14,000 youths in the last two years in various skills to make them self reliant and employers of labour.
“You cannot address insecurity where the youths are virtually useless to the society; you need to engage them in useful ventures to make them productive and responsible in life.
“That is why the administration devised various programmes to train the youths, offer them the required facilities and funding to set up their own businesses.
“In that way, most of them have settled down and even employed others around them,’’ Yero said.
He explained that the bulk of the beneficiaries were engaged in various skills under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program (SURE-P), while 2, 000 others were trained under the Graduate Internship Programme of the government.
Governor Yero added that 1,000 graduates were also trained to create additional four thousand jobs in the State through a partnership between the State Government and with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN)
The Government said another partnership between the State and Bank of Agriculture, loan package of N1 billion had been disbursed to farmers, in an effort to reposition the agricultural sector in tune with modern practice.
Similarly, plans had been concluded to disburse the sum another N1 billion to Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs in the State through a partnership between Kaduna State Government and the Bank of Industry, said Yero
According to him, the state government had also concentrated on the resuscitation of dormant industries to open up new opportunities for job creation and economic growth.
He said that the initiative had led to the leasing of the Ikara Food Company to an Indian firm for 10 years, to process tomatoes for local consumption and export.
The Governor solicited for the support of the youths and other people in the state, in encouraging entrepreneurship, and making the state safe for all.
