Adamawa State Government on Monday hinted of its plans to distribute economic empowerment kits to 70 youths and women trained under the Community Development Service (CDS) of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The targeted beneficiaries of the government’s initiative were graduates from a skill acquisition programme initiated by a Corps member, Miss Sulfat Aliu, in Yola[1]North Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking on the government’s empowerment initiative, the Head, Adamawa Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation Agency (PAWECA), Hajiya Aishatu Bello, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during an interview in Yola. Bello, who explained that the youths were exposed to tailoring,
leather work and agro-allied processing during the programme, said that the capacity-building training was designed to impart relevant skills on the youths to enable them to become self-reliant.
According to her, the agency will distribute starter packs to the graduates to enable them to set their businesses and engage in productive activities.
The PAWECA official further explained that “the criteria is for the graduates within the age bracket of 17 to 25 to qualify based on their trade, they will be given support to start up their businesses,”, adding that the gesture will help reduce poverty,
create wealth as well as contribute to the social and economic development of the state. She appealed to wealthy individuals and companies in the state to contribute in the skills development programme as government alone cannot do it all.
Bello said: “As an agency of government responsible for poverty reduction, job and wealth creation, it is desirable for individuals, groups or organisations to key into the programme.
“The agency is ready to collaborate with development partners towards actualising its mandate as the availability of government finances cannot take care of everyone.
It is a collective responsibility, we need stakeholders to come in for us to have peaceful coexistence and sustainable development”, she added