YOUTH EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVES....FG Restates Commitment

"The large population of youth in the country is a positive demographic index".... Dare.

"The President Muhammadu-led Administration has resolved to use the National Youth Investment Fund and other relevant youth programmes to ensure the training and empowerment of the youth for entrepreneurial skills".

The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to checking the spate of restiveness and other youth inclined vices through training, innovation and other empowerment initiatives.

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, disclosed this today, when he received the Katsina State Commissioner for Rural Development, Engr. Mustapha Kanti-Bello and his entourage in his Office, in Abuja.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Nebeolisa Anako, the Minister said that the country is blessed with a burgeoning youth population that needs to be meaningfully engaged as it was the only way of not only checking youth restiveness but also ensuring socio-economic development of the nation.

Mr. Dare, in a statement issued and signed by the Director, Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, described the large population of youth in the country as a positive demographic index.

He stressed that the President Muhammadu-led Administration has resolved to use the National Youth Investment Fund and other relevant youth programmes to ensure the training and empowerment of the youth for entrepreneurial skills, particularly with a view to checking the involvement of youth in crimes and criminalities in the country.

He commended the Katsina State Government for its passion for youth development programmes that culminated in the setting up of its Rural Infrastructure and Economic Revitalization Programme geared towards training and equipping its youth for positive development in line with the policy thrust of the present Administration.

The Minister further expressed the Federal Government's continued determination to collaborate with States and other relevant stakeholders on youth empowerment programmes so as to ensure that the Nigerian youth takes the lead in all the developmental strides in the country

Earlier in his remarks, the Katsina State Commissioner for Rural Development, Engr. Mustapha Kanti-Bello applauded the present Administration for its youth development initiatives.

He said that his visit was to seek further collaboration with the Federal Government  in order to check youth involvement in negative vices as well as ensure more of their participation in positive developmental ventures.