Kwara State Governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed has explained that his job creation programme was devoid of political inclination but out of the desire to ensure that the youths of the state are gainfully employed or are successful entrepreneurs.
Speaking during an interaction with journalists in Ilorin, the state capital, the Governor emphasised that “as a state and as a government we look at the composition of Kwara and recognised that we have a plethora of unemployed youths.
“We decided to act fast to prevent it from further degenerating. I’m glad to note that today, from available statistics nationwide; Kwara State has the least of unemployed youths. This tells you that the efforts to get us there are yielding fruits”.
“So, if anybody under any guise tells you that our youth empowerment scheme is political, then the person is not serious. We cannot afford to take the destiny of our youths into an adventure. So we cannot afford to politicise it. It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with stability and security of this country”, the Governor said.
The governor noted that unemployed youths must be empowered to move away from disillusionment to hope. According to him, “If anybody thinks that is politics then the person is not right. For us, these are very serious issues. We must begin to create hope in our youths and that hope is the essence of our empowerment schemes”.
He recalled that when his administration started in 2011 the Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme, KWABES, was designed to move youths from idleness to empowerment and ultimately to job placements. As at today, the Governor affirmed, over 5000 youths have already been empowered, adding that another batch of 8,000 youths will be moved from idleness to empowerment before the end of the year.
