President Goodluck Jonathan has advised the 36 states and Abuja to cue into the Federal Government job creation programme to reduce unemployment and crime in the country.

President Jonathan who was represented by the Minister of Labour Chief Emeka Wogu at the phase II Awards ceremony and flag off of phase III of Anambra Youth Re-orientation and Empowerment Programme (ANSYREP) during which over N100 million were issued to 1500 youths who just completed training in skill acquisition in Awka, said if states cue in to programme known as YOUWIN to which the Federal government has set aside N50 billion and cash to be given to over 6000 youths during the first round of the training, it will complement job creation efforts of each state government.

Chief Wogu praised Governor Peter Obi for helping the youth to actualize their dreams through several job creation efforts he has made through Anambra Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS). According to him, empowering the youth gives them a sense of belonging and reduces unemployment.

In a moving speech to the beneficiaries who were handed over cheques, Governor Peter Obi charged the youth that they can do it because from history, the richest men in the world today came from nothing. He told them: “You have the ideas that can change the world. There are people who want what you can provide. You can do it. It is a matter of saying I can move from here to there. You can change here and change Nigeria”.

Obi told the youth to be prudent with money given to them as this is not the time to change wardrobe and marry a wife. They must be determined to succeed.

He said that Anambra by yesterday’s empowerment programme “which came after a detailed capacity building programme has set a new standard in youth development by incorporating character and moral values into what would ordinarily have been treated as a vocational training, or skills acquisition programme”.

Obi noted that the national coordinator of National Poverty Eradication programme, Dr. Magnus Kpakol once rated Anambra lowest in the country and singled the state out as foremost in terms of commitment to fighting poverty.

The coordinator of Anambra ANSYREP Dr. Okey Ikechukwu, the organizers of the programme in conjunction with the Anambra state Government said that the initial target of the training programme was 3000 but it eventually trained 5131 and this was shared among the communities and non political groups. After series of trainings, Ikechukwu said, the youths realized that nothing can happen for them unless they do it themselves, hence the determination.

Ikechukwu challenged the youth to look up to responsible people as models and that his faith in Nigeria was reassured when Obi, in spite providing the money, did not impose one person on them for training.

Chairman of the occasion and former President of Ohaneze Ndigbo world wide, Dr. Dozie Ikedife echoed Obi’s advised and noted that this is the first time this kind of thing is happening in Anambra state.