Waste-to-wealth training for Gombe youths, part of our mandate ― NEDC

The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has stated that the waste-to-wealth training it embarked upon in the states that make up the North-East subregion is a means of creating employment among the teeming unemployed youths as well as helping to improve the environment from pollution and degradation.

The assertion was made by Head of Environment and Natural Resources of the NEDC, Adamu Lawan at the beging of a one-week training on waste management and recycling for youths in Gombe State on Monday.

Lawan also said that the training is to empower the youths in the state adding that it is relevant to the mandate of the Commission which is intervention and development-oriented aimed at improving the wellbeing of the people in the state and North-East subregion entirely.

According to him, the waste-to-wealth venture has become a business in view of the quantity of wastes being generated in the region saying that the Commission is seeking ways of converting the huge wastes into something useful as a resource or a product.

He further explained that 150 youths would be trained comprising 100 scavengers and 50 train-the-trainers from across the state in order to improve their scavenging skills.

He added that each of the participants will be given Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) such as boots, helmet, reflexive jacket, gloves and others to protect them.

According to him, the NEDC is also concerned about the health of the youths, hence the donation of the PPEs to protect them while they carry out their activities.

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The NEDC official further said that the Commission would install a recycling plant in the state with the intention of expanding it to cover all the Local Government Areas of the state with time.

On his part, the NEDC Focal Person for Gombe State, Shehu Ibrahim said that the training was a partnership between NEDC and the Gombe State government aimed at providing job opportunities for youths to become self-reliant.

Shehu Ibrahim urged the participants to take seriously the training as a means of helping themselves to become economically viable and employers of labour.

He stressed that, “To the participants, you must take advantage of the opportunity provided to acquire the needed knowledge to be empowered to help yourselves and your households.”

The Focal Officer commended all the stakeholders including the state government for their efforts towards ensuring that youths are self-reliant.

While addressing participants, the Director of Environment, Gombe State Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources, Ishaku Kure said the training would “greatly benefit the environment and man, hence I urge you all to participate actively and be attentive to gain the needful.”

One of the trainees, Vesta Tuka who spoke to Journalists said that the training was relevant in view of the availability of the raw materials and the wealth potentials in wastes.

Vesta Tuka commended the NEDC and Gombe State government for the initiative to empowering youths in the state and subregion as a whole to be self-reliant and employed.