Skill acquisition: Empower youths for sustainable devt., NGO tasks govt

A Non-governmental organisation, Advocacy Centre for Development (AC4D), on Friday urged government at all levels to empower youths with skills for sustainable development of the country.

Mr Ibrahim Yusuf, the NGO’s Team Lead made the call in Gombe while speaking at the certificates presentation to youths trained by his organisation in collaboration with Science Village, Gombe, a private school.

Yusuf said that empowering youths with skills would not only make them self-reliant but major contributors to the development of the country.

According to him, youths have the potential to be great but need environment conducive for them to become relevant to themselves and the society.

“The government should create an environment that is right for youths to thrive.
“This is because it is not everyone that has to go to school.
“There are skills that could be leveraged to empower youths and unlock their potentials,” he said

Apccording to him, crimes and youth restiveness can only be minimised through engagement of the youths in meaningful ventures, hence the need for all stakeholders to invest in skills acquisition for national development.

“The agriculture sector has so many components that you don’t need to go to school to acquire certificates.
“Like cattle and goats rearing, poultry, and others, you just need to train the young people and give them small capital to start up, and that’s all,” he said.

Yusuf said that since the government can not provide jobs for everyone, it was only right for them to provide infrastructure and facilities for youth to access skills acquisition.

He said that skills acquisition would enable youths take charge of their lives, acquire knowledge and opportunities needed to impact their futures and that of their communities positively.

He said that the 100 youths that were trained and certified would greatly impact on their immediate communities in view of what they had acquired in the 30-day training.

He said that the youths were trained on 21st-century skills, computer literacy, English language proficiency, and Arabic language skills.

Yusuf tasked youths in the country to embrace skills acquisition irrespective of their status, adding that white-collar jobs were not as readily available as sought.
He urged government at all levels to show the political will to ensure that youths acquire skills and were supported with capital.

“If you train youths on skills and there is no political will to assist them, it is going to be in vain, so there is need for political will in that regard, he said.”

Mr Mohammed Isa, the Director of Science Village School, Gombe said with skills and good morals, youths could become great and fulfil their dreams in life.

Isa appealed to philanthropists in the state to support his centre to train more youths on various skills.