Kwara youth set agenda for governor-elect

Youths in Kwara state have set agenda for the incoming government in the state, calling on the All Progressives Congress (APC) governor-elect, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, to turn around the fortune of youth in the state.

The youths who reel out their huge expectations at a youth summit in Ilorin at the weekend, called on the governor-elect to focus his attention on youth empowerment, agriculture, tourism, education reform, and access to government.

Chairman, local organizing committee (LOC) of the summit, Kayode Oyin-Subir, said that the summit comprised of a community of youth in the state, and
devoid of any religious, ethnic or political considerations.

He said part of the expectations include the provision of loan, entrepreneurial training in school, harnessing untapped resources, provision of infrastructure and social amenities, the welfare of worker and conducive environment for working,  security and host of others.

Also, the governor-elect said that his administration will pay optimum attention to the wellbeing of youths in the state on assumption of office.

He conceded that youth question is one of the greatest challenges that his administration will face.

His political associate, Kale Belgore, who read his speech at the summit, said that,  “As we assume office in the coming months, we have no doubt that one of the greatest challenges ahead of us in Kwara is how to address the youth question in order to engender growth and development as well as restore the dignity of not just the human person but the sanity of our communities.

“Building infrastructure across sectors will be key to attracting investments and employment generation. This explains our fixation on building infrastructure, given the huge deficit of the same across the state, especially in parts of Kwara where investment in agro-processing factories would help jump-start the local economy and create jobs.

“Proper attention will especially be paid to critical infrastructure for primary and post-primary education, moral teachings and counselling as a way to (re)build a new generation of young people who can hold their own anywhere in the world.

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“We will run an administration with an inclination towards moral rectitude and reorientation while also discouraging drug abuse, thuggery and a culture of unhealthy dependency which stifles socioeconomic growth.”

Furthermore, the frontline businessman turned politician said: “Incidentally, Nigeria is a country blessed with a huge population of youth. The United Nations estimated that Nigeria currently has a population of 199 million as of March 26, 2019.

“This is neither good news nor a bad one. A country’s youth population is often a double-edged sword. Higher youth population is an asset and a great element of power where the bulk of those young people are highly skilled, are engaged in very productive endeavours and are duly mobilised for national development. But it could also be a burden, or call it a time bomb, where the young population is not so skilled not properly engaged in anything meaningful. The danger
in the latter condition is that any country or society with predominantly ignorant or idle young population is a natural habitat for restiveness, drug abuse, and all sorts of crimes.

“The National Bureau of Statistics put youth unemployment in Nigeria at 36.50 per cent as at the third quarters of 2018, down from 38% in the previous quarter of the same year. This figure doesn’t cover the underemployment tally in the country.

“We will make sure that young people are at all time given ample opportunities to prove their mettle in a deliberate bid to make our youth agents of statecraft and catalysts for socioeconomic development in Kwara and Nigeria as a whole.”