The Bauchi governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 elections, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (rtd) has promised to restore the lost glory of the state by empowerment of the women population in the state, as well as ensuring education of the youths if elected into office in the 2023 gubernatorial election.

Sadique stated this on Friday in Darazo at the closing ceremony of a football competition organised by a supporter of the APC's presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Sadique stressed that unless attention is given to education, youth skills acquisitions and job creation the unemployed youth will remain ready weapons in the hands of insurgents, kidnappers and other criminal elements.

'Insha Allah, if elected, our administration will ensure that youth, who constitute the majority of our increasing population, will be engaged to make them productive members of our society', he said.

Expressing displeasure at what he described as "the present administration plays politics with the school children feeding programme",Abubakar said his administration will provide a level playing field where everybody can openly compete for contracts, including the local primary schools food vendors, but, with particular interest in empowering women.

He announced that he has worked out a comprehensive youth and women empowerment programme as a way of reducing over dependence on paid jobs through opening up windows of untapped opportunities in other sectors.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Air Marshal Sadique Media Office, in Bauchi on Friday and made available to News Express.