A foremost indigenous engineering outfit, Brightade Engineering Company limited (BECL) has stated that it is collaborating with the Federal Government through the federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development in order to achieve their sole aims and objectives of embarking on massive youth empowerment in order to stem the tide of youth restiveness and crime in the country.
This is the aim of World Bank Group’s passion especially on education which is in line with the objective of BECL on certification and recertification of expertise through trainings.
The Managing Director/CEO of the company, Engr. Kenneth Koko Odohofre in an interview in with journalists in Abuja stated that youth empowerment mean different things to different people.
“To politicians it means sharing of meager amount to some selected few individuals before the election to enable recipients cast their votes for them during elections while educationists see empowerment as processes that could lead to one emotional, psychological, socio- economic emancipation or uplifting”.
The Chief Consultant of the Coy, Barrester Nwike Emmanuel explained that BECL has come up tall in order to redefine what empowerment means to Nigerians with specific reference to youths, including women of all categories with the whole objective of creating employment opportunity to jobless but qualify young men and women through contructive and meaningful engagment throughout out Nigeria.
“Before its emergence, BECL had to investigate reasons while some with formal education certificates are not accorded opportunity to get their dream jobs in the country to enable them live meaningful lives.
According to him, the outfit equally investigated underground rationale for sharing money to jobless youths and the unemployed in recent past which saw them vote politicians into offices after which they are dumped and call thugs by the same people whom they assisted into office..
Barrester Emmanuel further informed that with such mile stone studies and investigations, BECL was able to realize the missing lines between the government and joblessness, unemployment and under development in Nigeria, hence her coy determination to bridge all the existing gap between the unemployed youths, lack of employment opportunity for growing youths across board as well how to address and arrest such negative trend in the country to ensuring effective balance, equitable development of young men and women in the country.
He said “reports available to us said World Bank is ever ready to assist Nigeria, It might surprise readers to know that recently, the World Bank has mandated the various state governments in the country to initiate youth empowerment proposals in order for all to benefit from the $150m set aside by the global financial institution in Nigeria.
Accordingly to him “The reports further pointed out that the bank would focus on governance, non-oil sector growth and human development adding that the mode of selection would be based on the requirements by the states, agreement with government, state level governance capability and commitment, as well as geographical balance across all six zones and existing state programmes.
Sources close to BECL also stressed the need to tackle the problems associated with unstable power supply in the country, including lack of good roads, lack of portable water supply while challenging state governments to come up with workable proposals in order to access support.
“The World Bank‘s human development goals which is tailored across the six geo-political zones as well as the SDGs, which were formulated with strong participation from the World Bank Group, are fully consistent with the World Bank Group’s own twin goals to end poverty and build shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. Nearly 800 million people now live in extreme poverty – earning $1.90 per day or less in the country”.
Also speaking was the National Coordinator of Project in the Coy, Mrs Affiong Abia Okponung who said, “we are coming out with massive employment which will start from the Ward to the National. It will take out million youths from the Streets.
She expressed hope to create job in all the 774 local government areas for youths engagement Nationwide adding that 75 partners are coming out for effective implementation of the project.
Mrs Okponung said partners shall issue out the volunteer recruitment forms to 3 youths from each wards, and local government(The three Youths will be divided into co-ordinator, assistant co-ordinator and Secretary.) which will be captured under the National youth data scheme (NYDS) and will be trained for specific vocational skill and entrepreneurship pursuit and for further retraining programmers designed for certification to access employment thereby, giving the recipients the opportunity to develop themselves and contribute to the development of their various wards, local government, States and National at Large.
