By BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO, LOKOJA

The All Progressives Congress, APC, Unity Forum in Kogi State, on Friday, tasked the State governor, Yahaya Bello, to prioritise youth empowerment and complete civil service reform in his administration.

Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State

Also, the organisation charged the governor to embark on massive urban renewal project in Lokoja, the state capital to ensure that the town meets the modern day status of a state capital.

President of the forum, Abubakar Mohammed, who stated this in Lokoja, while speaking with newsmen said the present administration should focus of youth empowerment to reduce the rate of unemployment among school leavers in the state,

“It is imperative for government to design a comprehensive youth empowerment programme to take care of the yearnings of the people in the category. So far, the youths are really going through a tough time in Kogi state, there is a lot of expectations from the new governor to see how the level of frustration among the youths can be reduced. With the youth being empowered, this will reduce disturbances in the state”.

Speaking on the much needed civil service reform in the state, Mohammed said that the reform was long overdue as the state civil service is riddled with corruption,

“The reform would enable government to clear the rot in the system and help block the leakages through which public funds were being siphoned. Kogi state civil service has been operating on a no clear cut direction for very long time. The civil service has been very corrupt, we are happy that Bello has taken a very courageous step to handle the situation”.

The forum, however, solicited support for the administration from the people of the state to enable it implement projects that would further develop the state.