By MUHAMMAD ADAM

The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has admitted 400 youths into an Information and Communication Technology training programme at FCE Yola, Adamawa state, according to Alhaji Mohammed Alkali, the NEDC Managing Director.

“The ICT Resource Centre at Federal College of Education, Yola, wants to train 400 youths who are currently undergoing three months training on Information and Communication Technology. The programme is the second in one year, designed by the Commission to empower Youth from the North East in various ICT skills,” Alkali said while speaking at a one-day youth sensitisation programme on Sunday.

Alkali said that the Commission recently inaugurated its Board of Trustees of the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) to provide scholarships, and create opportunities for youths in various skill acquisition programmes.

“Youths in the North East sub region have been adversely affected by insurgency and some sources of livelihoods were destroyed and schooling disrupted. This has made Yola and its environs a breeding ground for crime and substance abuse”, he noted.

He urged the Mubi Emirate in Adamawa and other state governments in the region to be involved in youth sensitisation and provide them with opportunities to make a better life for themselves.

The sensitisation programme was organised by Jakadiya Trust Foundation (JTF), in collaboration with the NEDC and supported by Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Headquarters, Abuja.

Prof. Ladi Hamalai, the Chairman and Founder of the JTF, said that the core objective of the foundation was to assist school children attain the government basic education in rural communities in Mubi Emirate.

Hamalai said that the mandate of the foundation was to supply educational instruction materials in both primary, junior and Secondary schools, in addition to collaborating with the NEDC and UBEC to actualise their own mandates of reconstruction and upgrading of schools’ infrastructure.

“It is (also) to strengthen Girl child education, lower incidence of drugs abuse among Women and Youths and encourage Youths participation in agriculture and community development services, among others,” Hamalai said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that during the programme, the foundation donated over one million text books in the Sciences, English and Mathematics to Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary schools’ libraries in five local government areas under the Emirate.

The beneficiary local government areas include: Mubi North, Mubi South, Maiha, Michika and Madagali. (NAN)

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