An advocacy group, the Coalition of Arewa Civil Society Groups, has hailed a former minister of state Housing and Urban Development, Engr Abdullahi Gwarzo, for what it described as a timely intervention in youth empowerment.
Speaking to newsmen recently in Gwarzo local government area of Kano State, at the venue of the launching of the ATM Gwarzo Vocational Centre, the secretary of the coalition, comrade Auwal Shuaibu, lauded the initiative of the former minister.
“What Engr T Gwarzo has done today, is a testament to the fact he is a transformational leader par excellence. When other politicians were busy providing youths with drugs to enhance political thuggery, he rather chose to empower them in order to be self-reliant.
“If we continue to have such leaders in our society, we would have curtailed, to a very large extent, our most formidable challenges confronting us in Kano and other states across the region,” he stated.
In the same vein, the chairman of the coalition, Amb Abdullahi Mohammed, re-echoed similar view.
“What we witnessed today is humanity at its finest. Despite not currently holding any public office, his Excellency Engr Abdullahi T Gwarzo exemplifies hope, humility and an unquenchable appetite to always give back to society, and his focus is gladly on the youths.
“Whenever, you want to destroy a society, just target the most agile and productive, and that’s the youthful demographics. Therefore, this vocational training center, established by the Honourable Minister, couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Youth restiveness, and unemployment is on the rise, while societal norms and values are declining, so the establishment of this vocational centre and empowerment of 50K cash grants to some select small business owners would go a long way in addressing some of the immediate challenges.
“In fact, is in a way a challenge to other leaders in Kano and indeed across the region, to rise up to the challenge,” he concluded.
It would be recalled that the former minister of state Housing and Urban Development, Engr Abdullahi T Gwarzo, had on Thursday launched a multimillion naira youth and vocational training centre in Gwarzo, which would serve as a centre for skills acquisition, technology hub, education, crafts and empowerment.
The centre aimed to accommodate youths in Kano, and across the entire northern Nigeria.
