Sokoto State Governor Ahmed Aliyu has personally funded a two-week skills training programme for 50 young people, as part of his administration’s 9-Point Smart Agenda.
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Development, Dr Bashir Muhammad Achida, launched the programme on the Governor’s behalf. He said empowering young people is central to the agenda, because no society can grow without them.
“For a society to develop, it has to empower its youths,” he said. “Around 73 to 75 per cent of the population is under 31. The remaining 27 per cent covers everyone from 31 to 100. So when you empower the youths, you are empowering the majority and the engine room of society.”
He urged the trainees to give the programme their full attention, pick up the skills and put them to use. The government, he said, would not stop at training but would follow up to make sure the skills benefit them and the wider community.
“Each of you comes from a home, and you have a responsibility there, if not to anyone else, then to your mother, your father and your siblings,” he said. “You also have a responsibility to society. When one person is empowered, the whole household is empowered.”
Dr Achida added that the selection was deliberately open. According to him, no senior government official nominated a sibling, relative or child. Beneficiaries were drawn from other households so that empowerment would reach more families.
The Director-General of the Sokoto State Contributory Health Management Agency (SOCHEMA), Yusuf Abu Abdulkarim, said the idea came from youth leaders in the state, who approached the Governor about training young people to become self-reliant.
“Some youth leaders met His Excellency and asked him to train some young people so they could be independent,” he said. “He then gave personal support for the training to go ahead.”
He said the 50 trainees will learn a range of trades, including phone repairs and solar power installation and repairs. He urged them to stay committed and focused, and assured them that once the training ends, they will receive whatever they need to start their own businesses, which the Governor has already personally backed.
The Director-General of Investments, Murtala Bala, said the training will help reduce unemployment and poverty in the state, and that the trainees will become productive and self-reliant for the benefit of themselves, their families and society.
The Training Facilitator, Yahaya Dogon Daji, praised the Governor for sponsoring the scheme personally, saying it will have many positive ripple effects on the state’s economy.
Some of the trainees thanked the Governor for the gesture and promised to take the training seriously so the initiative achieves its goals.
