Hajia Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammad Buhari, has challenged public and private sectors to raise the living standard of Nigerian youths.

In her address at the graduation ceremony of the seventh edition of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) Youth Empowerment and Skills Acquisition Programme (YESAP) on Thursday in Kaduna, Mrs. Buhari said her husband came to office with a very clear understanding of the critical challenges and the crises Nigerian youths face as a result of unemployment.

She said her husband also has a very clear vision and plan of action for youth empowerment. “One of the main components of that plan is the provision of education and training for all of our young people everywhere; in all communities, in every region; and in every state in the country,” she said.

Represented by Mrs. Hadiza El-Rufai, wife of Kaduna State Governor, Mrs. Buhari said it is in line with this that the government has pledged to set aside 30% of the country’s procurement to young people and other marginalised groups.

“I am happy that the management of Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company has already set a pace in this direction through the YESAP programme and has also responded with greater fervor, seriousness and dedication to actualise self employment and empowerment of youths. This really is encouraging to me,” she added.

In his welcome address, Idi Mukhtar Maiha, Managing Director, KRPC, said present economic realities that resulted in the dearth of job opportunities, especially white collar jobs, necessitated the need to pay more attention to the promotion of vocational skills acquisition, away from the traditional approach of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focusing on school renovations, boreholes, building feeder roads, provision of school furniture and supply of books, etc.

“As important as these are, we at KRPC did a lot of those as well. We are now fully incorporating a more strategically sustainable CSR that is skills acquisition empowerment for life. Today, an additional 120 youths from KRPC host communities will join 675 others earlier trained in various vocational skills of their choice,” he said. Mr. Maiha said the programme which started in 2008 has so far empowered 795 youths with various vocational skills in seven batches.

•Photo shows Mrs. Aisha Buhari.

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