Soludo Flags Off Scheme to Empower 8,000 Youths with Skills

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has commenced a youth empowerment programme to train 8,000 youths in the state and put them off the streets.

In addition, 620 businesses in the state, which have undergone trainings, will serve as masterclass trainers and receive stipends for business expansion to accommodate the trainees.

The Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr Patrick Aghamba, stated this while speaking with THISDAY in his office Tuesday.

Aghamba said the governor recently flagged off the scheme, which is the second phase of the exercise after the one conducted in 2023.

He said the training had various phases, and would last for eight months, and that the trainees would be entitled to stipends within the period of the training, while adding that 620 training centres have been established in every part of the state.

He said: “The age range of the training is from 18 to 45 years. It does not matter if you are from Anambra or not, so long as you reside here in Anambra.

“The idea is that even if you’re not from Anambra but you reside here, if we take you out of the street and empower you with skills, the tendency is that you will not be a problem to society, and the rate of crime in the state will reduce.

“Our hope is that we want to use this to reduce the crime rate in the state. The training will commence soon. It is called one youth, two skills programme.

“Phase A is for courses that will take four months and phase B is for courses that will take six months. It is a vocational training and the last phase is entrepreneurship, which is for one month. We will also use one month to do capturing. So the project timeline is eight months.”

Speaking on some of the skills that would be learnt, Aghamba listed furniture, metal fabrication, aluminum fabrication, CCTV installation, confectionary, leather works as part of the skills.

In agriculture, he said the programme will feature livestock, piggery, poultry, fishery, and cassava processing, among others.

“In all, we have 42 skills for this programme. We will deploy 8,000 of our youths. We will support 620 businesses for business expansion for their businesses to accommodate the trainees we are sending to them,” he said.