Youth Day Celebration Speech by Governor of Kano State
The governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on Friday, August 12, at the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kofar Mata, addressed the youths of Kano during the 2016 International Youth Day Celebration.
Read the full speech below...
It gives me great pleasure to address you all at this auspicious occasion of the 2016 International Youth Day Celebration. The theme of this year’s celebration, “Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable production and Consumption”, is not only appropriate, but very timely considering the level of poverty among young people globally. It is apt because it coincides with the challenges of global recession with its attendant poverty, increased unemployment and under-employment, collapse of businesses and high crime rate.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the National Youth Policy (2009) pointed out that the Nigeria’s population is predominantly young. This has been earlier revealed by the 2006 National Census figures which shows that two-third of the Nigerian population are youth and Kano being the most populous state it hosts a large number of youth in the country. This poses a great challenge to the Government and inspires the Government to find lasting solutions for the challenges facing our younger generations as leaders oftomorrow. This is an obligation upon us and we will not relent in our determined effort to meet the yearnings and aspirations of our teeming youth. You are our hope, and it is our responsibility as leaders of today to secure your future by providing the necessary support and machinery for your development in a most decent and responsible way.
It is clear that the International Youth Day Celebration is in accordance with the 1998 Declaration by the United Nations Forum on Youth Policies and Programmes in Lisbon, Portugal, which sets aside August 12 of every year for that purpose. The laudable objectives of the Day include:-
To call on the general public particularly parents, teachers, community leaders, religious leaders, politicians, governments etc not to shy away from their responsibilities of their wards by inculcating in them good moral and social behavior;
To create awareness, self-consciousness and self-respect in the youth;
To give them formal education, train and empower them so as to boost their capacities to be able to overcome their individual ambitions as well as sensitize them on their environment to enable them adjust to the challenges of life in terms of inter-personal relations, community belonging and citizenship.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, today’s event is a culmination of series of activities starting from the opening ceremony, lectures on the theme, sub-themes, debate, sports competitions, cultural displays, exhibition of youth talents and youth exchange programmes with neighbouring states.
May I use this opportunity to commend and appreciate the support and understanding of our youths to this administration as evidenced in your innumerable goodwill messages on social media platforms. This act encourages me to strive to do more for our teeming youth across the state, through sustainable empowerment programmes. So far the State Government has implemented the following programmes in just one year in office and despite the poor economic situation of the state, they are as follows:-
ICT training and equipping of 250 youths;
Training of 100 youths in automobile maintenance and repairs at PAN Learning Centre in Kaduna;
Training of 60 youths including females on Artificial Insemination in Turkey;
Employment of 742 Agricultural Extension Agents on mass food production and provided them with motor cycles;
Procurement and distribution of 5000 water pumps to farmers among whom are many youths free of charge.
The Kano State Government has also identified the gaps in the trades and services such as electric wiring, plumbing, mechanics, and masonry etc, offered in the state which required citizens’ participation. The government has however discovered that Kano indigenes are left out in the scheme which prompted this Government to make adequate planning for the Multi-purpose Skills Acquisition Centre in the state. We have also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment for the implementation of the federal government Special Intervention Project, popularly known as N-Power, aimed at creating job opportunities and wealth creation among our teeming unemployed graduates and non-graduates. Along this line, we have also approved the selection of 2000 youth in the state for training in the federal government recognized Peace Corp, with the anticipation that they will, at a later time, be employed and absorbed as full time staff by the Ministry of Interior. The State Government will shoulder all expenses for their training, feeding, accommodation, uniforms and other logistics.
Furthermore, we have established a high-powered State Committee on Empowerment which has already swung into action. The government has so far released over N132 million for the implementation of various skills acquisition and empowerment programmes for over 5000 small business operators and unemployed youth across the state. I have also mandated the committee to fashion out short and medium term plans for job creation for the benefit of our youth.
In addition, we have recently approved a partnership for the employment of 5000 youth to serve as Agents and Sub-Agents for the marketing of MTN and Diamond Bank products as another move towards reducing unemployment and facilitating self-reliance and job creation among youth.
I must, therefore, at this juncture, remind our teeming youth of the challenges ahead of them and call on you, as leaders of tomorrow, to maintain the ethics of patriotism, discipline, honesty, hard work, self-reliance, peaceful coexistence and tolerance and shun all anti-social behaviors and criminal acts.
Finally, let me stress that the challenges of poverty among our youth is a general problem which requires the collaboration of government as well as the private sector to act collectively in addressing it. I therefore call on the private sector operators to partake in this regard.
Thank you and God bless.
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