Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara on Tuesday said the state government would give priority to youth entrepreneurship in 2014.
Ahmed made this known at the graduation of Skill Acquisition programme organised by Dynamix Industrial Training Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development.
He charged the 25 graduates drawn from the 16 local governments in Ilorin to take advantage of the opportunity to develop themselves and become employers of labour.
Represented by Saka Babatunde, Special Assistant on Youth Empowerment, Ahmed said his administration would continue to focus on youth development because they constituted the largest percentage of the country’s population.
The two-month programme covered five areas, including fumigation, pest control and soap making, catering and hotel management, chemical application as well as barbing and hair dressing.
In her address, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs Rhoda Ajiboye, called on the beneficiaries to make judicious use of items to enhance their dreams.
She said that the graduates were now better persons who could fend for themselves, saying this was the cardinal objective of the programme.
“You are also expected to carefully and meticulously manage the empowerment materials provided by the state government.
“In addition to the training acquired with a view to acquiring more materials for your overall comfort and development in your new professions,’’ he said.
Ajiboye commended Ahmed for his unrelenting efforts at developing the teeming youths of the state into independent and self-reliant citizens who would not be enticed to political thuggery.
The Director of Youths in the ministry, Hajia Aisha Muhammed, said the programme was another opportunity to rid the society of unemployment.
“You need to, as a matter of fact, put in all your efforts to encourage others,’’ Muhammed said.
The Director of the institute, Emmanuel Udoh, commended the Kwara Governor on his efforts at developing the youths in the state.
He said the institute would continue to monitor the beneficiaries as they strive to make progress in their undertakings.
