Minister Bio says community development critical to youth welfare

…Tours Kwara communities

Nigeria’s Minister of Youth Development, Jamila Bio has underscored the pivotal role of community development in fostering youth development and advancing nation building.

She stated this upon the completion of a comprehensive needs assessment tour of various communities in Edu and Baruten Local Government areas of Kwara State.

The Minister was assigned by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume to lead a delegation of the Nigeria Hydro-Electric Power Producing Area Development Commission (N-HYPPADEC) to commission two new projects and carryout needs assessment of expanded communities captured under the Commission’s intervention areas.

Bio said the exercise was part of the Federal Government’s broader strategy to assess and address the development needs of rural communities across the country.

“This is to ensure that the dividends of democracy reach nooks and crannies of the country, and to ensure that the impacts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership is felt at the grassroots,” she added.

According to the Youth Minister, community development is not just a pathway to improving infrastructure and services but a cornerstone for empowering young people to become active participants in nation-building.

The communities the minister visited for the assessment tour include Lafiagi, Tsaragi, and Shonga in Edu Local Government, and Ilesha Baruba, Kosubosu, Okuta-Baruten and Yashikira in Baruten Local Government Area.

At each of these communities, she engaged with their traditional rulers, who highlighted their infrastructural needs.

The royal fathers also commended the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, and urged lawmakers from Kwara North to support and work with them to facilitate more development in the region.

In her response, the Minister promised increased Federal Government interventions for the communities especially in the areas of youth empowerment, and critical infrastructure upgrade by appropriate agencies and ministries of government.

During her interactions with the youth of some of the visited communities, Bio highlighted the various initiatives of the Tinubu’s administration aimed at empowering young Nigerians, urging them to maximise these opportunities to foster youth enterprise at the grassroots.

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She said: “President Tinubu is a youth-friendly leader and in line with his commitment to youth development, the federal government has launched different key interventions for the youth.

“Some of these interventions include the Presidential Initiative on Youth Enterprise Cluster (PIYEC), Youth Development Bank, Youth Development Centres, Nigerian Education Loan Fund, SMEDAN’s National Skills Business Initiative, ITF Skill Up Artisan programme, 3MTT programme, and the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), which is focused on empowering young entrepreneurs and innovators.

“I encourage you all to take advantage of these interventions, particularly the Agric cluster of the NYIF programme to transform your business ideas and contribute to national development. Our administration is dedicated to creating an enabling environment for our youth to thrive and we will continue to implement programmes that enhance youth development.”

She also canvassed partnership and support for government from all stakeholders especially traditional rulers, youth groups, and development partners.

While commissioning the newly built classrooms by N-HYPPADEC at BLGEA Primary School Makarakpo, the minister also spoke on the significance of girl-child education, encouraging parents to send their children, especially girls, to school, using herself as a model.

“If my parents hadn’t sent me to school, I wouldn’t have had the honour and privilege to become a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria,” she noted.

The highlight of the minister’s visit to the Kwara North communities was the commissioning of a N613 million Erosion Control Drainage project in Patigi, Patigi Local Government, and new classrooms in BLGEA Primary School, Makarakpo, Baruten. Both projects were implemented by N-HYPPADEC.

The Managing Director of N-HYPPADEC, Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, who was on the entourage of the Youth Minister, pledged that his Commission would implement more developmental projects in Kwara.

He specifically mentioned, on site, that N-HYPPADEC would liaise with the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority to revitalize the Gure and Yashikira Dams that have been abandoned for years.