South-east Governors Seek to Combat Youth Unemployment with Empowerment Initiatives

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka, Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia and Gideon Arinze in Enugu

With perennial insecurity and youth restiveness in the south-east which has seen many youths join the struggle for secession, there seems to be a deliberate policy by governors of the region to empower youths with skills and take them off the streets.

From Anambra, Imo, Enugu and Abia States, the governors have respectively unfolded youth empowerment initiatives as well as programmes to support operators of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the region
In Anambra State, the Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, few days ago launched what he called the 1youth2skills programme.
The programme which is in its second phase, witnessed about 8,620 participants that qualified for the second batch. It is expected to serve as a bridge to the future for youths to move away from joblessness as his administration prioritises human capital development.

“Today, we are beginning phase two of that big journey to ensure that our youths are empowered on a sustainable basis, to teach them how to fish and eliminate hunger. Phase one of the programme had 5,000 youths, trained in a peculiar way of ‘igba boy,’ mentorship, etc.
“Most of them have been empowered, and several of them are now employers of labour. In this second batch, 183,000 applications were received, and over 8,000 people were selected because of limited spaces,” he added.

Explaining how the scheme works, the Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr. Patrick Aghamba, said the training has various phases and would last for eight months, adding that the trainees would be entitled to monthly stipends from the government within the pendency of the training, while also being empowered with start-up capital after the training.

He said: “The age range of the trainees 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.

“We want to use this to reduce the crime rate in the state. The training will commence soon. It is called the 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.

The coordinator of Anambra Keke Drivers Union, Osita Obi, while commenting on the initiative said: “The programme is a wonderful one. It will help to empower our youths and keep them busy. The government cannot give white-collar jobs to everyone, but the best they can do is to train people and give them the enabling environment to thrive.

“For me, I do not think that this initiative can solve crime, but it can contribute a little quota. Every society has deviants, and such deviants, whether there is a job or not, still engage in crime. But on the whole, what the governor is doing is commendable and should be emulated by all.”

In Imo State, the government recently introduced the One Kindred One Business Initiative (OKOBI), that encourages each kindred in the State to set up businesses whereby the government helps them register them as cooperatives. Currently, there are more than 150 OKOBI registered in Imo State.
Imo State Commissioner of Information, Mr. Declan Emelumba, told THISDAY that the idea of the OKOBI, was to encourage each kindred in the State to come up with an entrepreneurial idea that the government can facilitate for them.

“The government would partner with them to make sure there is something established in every kindred that is economically viable that would create jobs and enhance the wellbeing of the people within the rural areas.

“The governor has just directed that every kindred should key into it and the government is working with the local governments and kindred to ensure that the objective is realised. In the next one month, the initiative would fully take off. Right now the kindreds are organising themselves to come up with what they have a comparative advantage on. The kindreds have to make a commitment and the government in turn would provide counterpart funding to drive the initiative,” he added.

For Enugu State, Governor Peter Mbah, announced a partnership between the state government and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, aimed at boosting Macro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the state with a N1 billion matching fund.
Mbah, had disclosed that the fund would empower small and medium-sized enterprises in Enugu State and pave the way for their growth and success. The initiative would introduce Conditional Cash Grants for 5,000 SMEs.

Mbah has always reiterated his commitment towards nurturing a thriving SME ecosystem to foster the economic growth objectives in the state.
Since assuming office, the governor has continued to support SMSs, providing them with crucial financial support needed to thrive and boost their businesses.
Few days ago, Mbah flagged off the distribution of inputs and grants worth over N4.6 billion to farmers, communities, and IT startups in the state as part of his commitment towards Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development in the state.

Performing the flag-off, the governor had said it was important to “nurture small-scale entrepreneurs for sustainable growth through the provision of the key enablers since they remain the lifeblood of economic development.”

The intervention included N400,000 disbursement to 187 beneficiaries, N7.5m each to 10 tech startups, operational grant for solar equipment to 256 beneficiaries, laptop computers and POS terminals to 269 beneficiaries and the disbursement of N60,000 to over 16,000 beneficiaries, mostly comprising owners of nano-enterprises on a ratio of 80:20 in favour of women.

In 2023, the Enugu SME centre had introduced the Transforming Nigerian Youths Program in partnership with Enterprise Development Center- Pan African University, MasterCard Foundation and Capitis Global Ventures Ltd. The program was intended to boost entrepreneurial skills among Enugu’s youth, especially those aged 18-35, focusing on women-led microenterprises.

In his reaction, Executive Director at Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Advocacy Network, Ephraim Okenwa said that the Enugu governor understands that most businesses that power the state’s economy are SMSs.

“That is why he is investing massively in that sector through the SMS centre, building the needed collaborations,” he said. “When you talk about productivity for SMSs, you talk about land, labour capital and entrepreneur,”. “Finance and building capacity remain a major challenge for SMS but the state government has been deliberate in tackling these challenges,” he added.

In Abia State, Governor Alex Otti, on assumption of office made it plain that he wants Abia youths to be equipped with the needed skills that would make them self-sustaining instead of roaming about in search of white-collar jobs,

So far, he has put in place programmes for youths to be trained in farming, digital economy as well as creating the enabling environment for small-scale and nano-businesses to flourish.

Last month, 300 youths completed their training in modern farming techniques at the CSS Global Integrated Farms in Nasarawa State.  On return to Abia, Otti had assured them that government “will do everything possible to support you to set up”. He said that they would go into food production without delay.

Otti, also has taken a bold step to promote economic growth in the rural areas with a disbursement of N1 billion to 10,000 persons engaged in productive nano, micro and small businesses.

The governor said 70 per cent of the first batch of beneficiaries comprise “women and young people who have shown great industry by doing so much with very little resources.”

The interest-free loans are disbursed to beneficiaries under the Abia State Cooperative Support Scheme targeting rural and urban dwellers drawn from across the 184 political wards in the state.

On digital skills for youths, Otti expressed his commitment to promoting STEM education, science, technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, and job opportunities in the state. He wants Abia youths to be equipped with the knowledge, expertise, and practical skills in various core and advanced digital skills.

Some experts have applauded the move as a laudable one by the governors, as insecurity in most states in the region had been linked to idleness by youths.

 Mr. Chris Asor, a leading member of the civil society groups in Anambra and coordinator of Anambra State Civil Society Network (ANSCONET) said: “We think there should be a monitoring mechanism because many of the people who will get these funds or training are targeting the empowerment money, and to them it is like bazaar or windfall. The government must properly monitor these initiatives and ensure that those who are imparted with the skills and who get empowered are truly those who need it.

“The progress of the business should be monitored, and some of them cannot account for those monies, and the good idea may be defeated if nothing is done. Skill acquisition is very good and when you look around you discover that those doing some skills are non-Nigerians.”