The Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal, Sodique Abubakar has reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government, to empower youths across the country through agriculture as a way of addressing unemployment and insecurity in the country.
He stated that the empowerment is a potential for accelerating economic growth and making the result more sustainable.
Air Vice Marshal Abubakar disclosed this in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital during the official launch of Barracks Youths Empowerment through agriculture mobility command chapter, held at 203 Mag in Ilorin.
Over 67 youths have benefited from the programme according to him, “You will agree with me that the present insecurity in the country is largely caused by youths unemployment, either in the Northeast or in the Niger Delta region of the country.
“Youths have been largely unemployed, and if the agriculture is keyed into, you will see that a lot of youths will be involved and as the saying goes that an idle mind is the devils workshop, when youths are engaged falsely, they are not idle, they get engaged as they earn money, and add values to their lives and the lives of their families.’’
The Chief of the Air Staff who was represented by the Director Standard and Evaluation of Nigeria Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Saliu Balariba added that the empowerment of youths is therefore not luxury, rather it is an untapped potential in the acceleration of Nigeria’s economic growth and social development’’.
He stressed that “the inauguration that we are witnessing today is the first phase of the program, training of youths in various agricultural skills will be the next phase which will be followed by empowerment through financial assistance by government agencies’’
He further noted that , “Keeping our youths gainfully engaged will no doubt bring rates to the barest minimum which will in turn impact positively on the overall security of the nation”.
