CAJA partners governmental agencies to strengthen youth empowerment

By Muhammad Muhammad

Determined to reduce youth restiveness and unemployment in the society, Center for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA) on Thursday opened a stakeholder’s engagement with government agencies and international donors to create empowerment opportunities in Kano.

Solacebase reports that the engagement forum was instituted to bridge existing knowledge gaps and opportunities between productive youths seeking means of self-reliance and government agencies, with the intent of creating easy access to empowerments and other interventions.

Convener and CAJA Executive director, Comrade Kabiru Dakata told participants in Kano, on Thursday, that the stakeholder’s engagement meeting was initiated due to growing cases of crimes and criminalities involving the younger generation in the state as a result of unemployment.

Comrade Dakata lamented that despite the series of government interventions and empowerment programmes that are youth and women centered, the larger population of youth in Kano could not benefit partly because of the information gap.

The convener said the objective was to strengthen inclusive participation of Kano youth to the National Youth program and policy to enhance socio-economic and human development especially among the youth.

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Earlier, Kano state coordinator of Agro-Processing, Agricultural Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support , APPEALS program, Dr Hassan Ibrahim disclosed that 1,700 women and youths have so far benefitted in one of the numerous empowerment programs.

Represented by APPEAL Program Manager, Dr Kabir Yau, he explained that a wide range of opportunity abound for youth especially in the areas of agricultural production, processing and marketing stressed that over N50,000 million intervention fund have been released to beneficiaries in Kano.

According to him, the 6 years World Bank Project running across 6 states including Kano has N200 million intervention funds to promote Rice, Wheat and Tomatoes value chain, was aimed to bridge food insecurity, provide jobs and promote export of agricultural produce.

State coordinator , Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSAPDP) Ibrahim Garba also reminded that the Islamic Development Bank funded agricultural project has provided empowerment opportunities to 4,200 youths in Kano.

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Garba said the US$95million agro-pastoral project has created more opportunities for youth especially in the areas of irrigation farming, artificial insemination, milk collection and rural development. He disclosed that KSAPDP is opening fresh empowerment opportunities for 1,000 youths that would soon be recruited to engage in Rice production.

However, participants at the occasion alleged political influence, undue favoritism in the selection process and technicalities among other conditions as major predicaments preventing youth’s accessibility in the empowerments.