Empowering Youths Will Reduce Poverty, Kidnapping – Commission

National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) said its initiative of empowering the youths through skills acquisition and sustainable livelihoods will go a long way in reducing poverty, restiveness, social vices such as cattle rustling, kidnapping, raping, rural banditry, piracy and incessant conflicts leading to wanton destruction of lives and properties.

The executive secretary, Prof Bashir Usman disclosed this during the opening ceremony of a 4-day workshop on the “Development of Training Manuals on Various Sustainable Livelihoods Skills and Trades for Nomadic Youths,” yesterday in Abuja.

Usman said when somebody learns skills, he can use the skills learned to feed, send his children to school, assist others with employment and even invest for the future.

“The skill one learns can assist him till the end of his life. A youth who is empowered with improved animal husbandry skills can earn from it sustainably till he dies.

“The various skills provided in these all-important training manuals to be developed will provide the intended trainees with artistic, manipulative, life coping, lifelong communicative empowerment skills, intellectual empowerment skills as well as problem-solving skills,” he said.

He said empowerment with skills are basically to ensure poverty eradication, good education standard, job creation, good governance, security/crime reduction, national growth, technological development and employment, wealth creation, and self-reliance.

“You will bear with me that empowering the nomadic youths is the means through which they are assisted to succeed in life and have the opportunity to develop the ability they need to become role models who can influence their communities and earn a living for socio-economic and sustainable livelihood development,” he said.