ON September 20, 1940, the 32nd President of the United States of America, Franklin D. Roosevelt in an address at University of Pennsylvania said: “We cannot always build the future for our youths, but we can build our youths for the future”.

It was on the basis of this statement by this  great Amercian leader and other successive leaders in the country that America is a great country today. They realised the importance of building their youths for the future instead of always building the future for them. They did not only give the children fish, they taught them how to catch fish because the future is very important for their survival.

In Nigeria, since Independence, the slogan has been that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow. This is even when nobody or government had been building the youths for the future. So, the slogan , which was coined by our political leaders, appeared to be mere lip service, as successive governments in Nigeria have failed to properly empower Nigerian youths.

We have seen or heard bogus youth empowerment schemes by successive governments at various levels which were effectively undermined by bureaucratic bottlenecks and political intrigues. This has been the situation for many years. So, how will the youths be the leaders of tomorrow in such circumstances in the country?

But recently I witnessed a different approach to youth empowerment scheme that was unique, realistic and worthy of emulation by governments at all levels. It was the Abia Youth Empowerment Scheme, Abia-YES, summit held at the state capital Umuahia on Wednesday April 24, 2013. Before then, I have heard and read about how a non-governmental organisation, Ochendo Youth Foundation being co-ordinated by Chinedum Orji, had been partnering with the state government and public-spirited individuals and organisations to empower youths in the state. Before the youth empowerment summit, the foundation had given out more than 500 vehicles, 300 tricycles, several sewing machines and other gift items to unemployed youths free of charge. Already 4500 youths selected from the three senatorial zones in the state have been on the monthly payroll of the state government with the sum of N10,000 as social safety net for their survival.

I have also read about the houses built for the less-privileged widows by the wife of the state governor, Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji. And the question that readily comes to my mind is, will this be possible in a society where every action is politicised?

So the summit was an opportunity for me to confirm the authenticity of the youth empowerment scheme and poverty alleviation programmes of the government in collaboration with Ochendo Youth Foundation and others. At the summit was the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who doubled as keynote speaker. In his educative and incisive speech, Sanusi gave a template for youth empowerment and lauded the Abia government for its approach to youth empowerment.

According to him, the youth constitute 18% of the world population but African countries under invest on the youth at great consequences such as breeding an unproductive segment who live under the poverty line of two dollars a day. As solutions, he recommended massive job creation, great emphasis on technical and vocational education, provision of social safety nets like the Social Security Act of the USA which came into reckoning in 1935, huge investment in agriculture, developing the rural areas to check urban migration, and a change of mentality which prefers white collar jobs as the only source of survival.

From the Michael Okpara Auditorium venue of the lecture, we moved to Umuahia Township Stadium. Carefully parked and arranged at the stadium were more than 200 cars, some buses, laptops and sewing machines. To my greatest surprise and as well as others present, the arrival of Governor Orji at the venue alongside Sanusi and other prominent personalities marked the beginning of the event. In his emotion-laden speech, he informed that his administration’s plans for the youths have already taken-off with direct empowerment of them which has drastically reduced the level of crimes in the state. The Governor handed over the keys and particulars of the vehicles and gift items to the beneficiaries, mainly youths from the three senatorial zones in the state.

Beneficiaries were highly elated with their gifts and celebrated with their relations and friends. I was later informed that the state government had done a lot more before now in the area of youth empowerment such as the free education from primary to secondary level and the free transport from home to school and back in Umuahia and Aba cities which started in 2007.

The government has also created employment opportunities for the youths by the reviving the Abia Rubber Company in Abam in collaboration with an international firm, resuscitating all oil palm estates in Abia, starting with Ohambele and Mbawsi Oil mills.

The life-improving Ochendo Liberation Farms scheme in all the LGAs is aimed at impacting survival skills and giving the youths a chance to moderate their destiny and becoming producers rather than consumers.

Indeed, Abia government’s approach to youth empowerment and poverty alleviation appears to be first of its kind in the country and governments at all levels should do well to adopt it to avoid failure and ensure it is not hijacked by the politicians for selfish reasons.

ALOY EKWEBIRI, a structural  engineer, wrote from Lagos.