. . . Says sharing bags of rice by politicians, others, phantom charity

By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has described sharing of bags of rice to youths by politicians and some other people as phantom charity which only provides food for one day and none the next day.

He stated this at a one-day workshop tagged, “One Youth, Two Skills Solution” workshop which held at the International Convention Center, Awka.

Addressing the youths, Soludo said that his government has come to begin a process of productive empowerment in which people would be taught how to fish, and not giving them fish.

He pledged to assist selected youth trainees with start-up funding for businesses.

The governor said: “We have come to kick off the commencement of a long journey. The future of Anambra is in your hands.

“We have come to begin a process of productive empowerment in which you teach people how to fish, not giving them fish.

“Politicians and some other people doing what I call phantom charity, sharing bags of rice to youths is not empowerment but rather, giving them food for the day because the next day, they will be hungry.

“We will give you the skill and training. Our agenda is to have one youth with at least two skills. That is the future of Anambra, Nigeria and Africa.

“As I look into your faces, you are ready to go. We will approve more billions in coming years for the development of special skills and programmes we have for our youths.

“Today and tomorrow belongs to you. In Anambra, we are hard working. The true onye Anambra don’t beg but ask for help to stand on his own. When he is established, he starts deploying others into the business. This is the journey we have begun.”

He described his government as “government of the youths, for the youths and by the youths,” as his cabinet is dominated by youths.

“The 0.01%, the few hundreds who gets into the bush, who seek for easy route of livelihood, involved in kidnapping and crime cannot define who we are.

“A true Onye Anambra will not take up guns to rob, attack, kill or decapitate someone’s head who haven’t done him no wrong.

“Our people work hard legitimately. To lay the foundation, we must have an educational system for the 21st century.

“The quality of our educational system is defined by the quality of teachers and teaching. We are recruiting over 5000 teachers in the coming weeks.

“We can’t have schools without teachers. Our hospitals need doctors and nurses so that when you fall sick, you will have somewhere to go to,” Soludo said.

On his part, the Commissioner for Youth Development in the state, Mr Patrick Aghamba, said that the flag-off of the one Youth, two Skills project was clearly captured in the Transition Committee’s report.

He explained that the programme was targeted at raising mass entrepreneurs through apprenticeship, business financing and mentoring.

According to him, the society was faced with numerous challenges such as crime, kidnapping, violence, among others, as a result of youth unemployment, noting that the only way to solve it in a sustainable manner was to keep the youths positively busy with jobs.

While saying that the essence of the workshop was to prepare the minds of selected trainees for the journey ahead, he disclosed government was targeting the training of 5,000 beneficiaries to meet the Governor’s vision of creating one 1,000 millionaires annually.

“The journey can make or mar your future. The selected trainees must count themselves lucky to be selected from over 20,000 youths that applied for this programme.

“The apprenticeship and entrepreneurial model being used requires that trainees would be sent to business owners for the duration of four to seven months to learn the skills within the business environment.

“All trainees will be trained in various communities with community leaders involved. This is against the old ways of bringing every trainee to the State Capital to be trained.

“Mr. Governor has shown that the development of the youths is his topmost priority by appointing youths in key positions in his government.

“Everything required to start is ready! The Master Trainers are ready!! I must thank them for volunteering to offer their best to partner with the Solution Team in creating solutions to youth unemployment.

“Approval for all the empowerment training needed, welfare has graciously been granted by Mr. Governor. There are also incentives for Master Trainers to motivate them for effective service delivery.

“I can’t stop thanking Mr. Governor, ‘The Field Youth Marshal’, for his passion towards the youths. I am very optimistic that in a few years to come, you shall all be successful entrepreneurs, contributing positively to the development of Anambra State.

“The world is waiting to hear your success story, do not be a disappointment,” the Governor said.

Aghamba further tasked the trainees to use the opportunity afforded by the training to better their lives and urged them to be humble, disciplined, patient and respectful.

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