The Kaduna State government, weekend, said it had adopted a robust policy of empowering youths to reduce the level of insecurity in the state.

Governor Ramalan Yero made this known in Kaduna while speaking in an interview with newsmen.

Yero spoke through his Media Aide, Mallam Ahmed Maiyaki, saying that, the government had already trained 14,000 youths in the last two years in various skills to make them self reliant and employers of labour.

“You cannot address insecurity where the youths are virtually useless to the society; you need to engage them in useful ventures to make them productive and responsible in life.

“That is why the administration devised various programmes to train the youths; offer them the required facilities and funding to set up their own businesses.

“Through that way, most of them have settled down and even employed others around them,” Yero said, explaining further that the bulk of the beneficiaries were engaged in various skills under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, while 2, 000 others were trained under the Graduate Intern- ship Programme of the government.

The governor added that 1,000 graduates were also trained to create additional four thousand jobs through a partnership between the state government and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, SMEDAN.

He also, said that another partnership between the state and Bank of Agriculture, BOA, for a loan package of N1 billion that had been disbursed to farmers in the area.

Similarly, plans had been concluded to disburse another N1 billion to Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs in the state through a partnership between the government and the Bank of Industry, BOI, he added.

According to him, the state government had also concentrated on the resuscitation of dormant industries to open up new opportunities for job creation and economic growth, adding that the

initiative had led to the leasing of the Ikara Food Company to an Indian firm for 10 years, to process tomatoes for local consumption and export.

Yero, then solicited for the support of the youths and other stake holderes in the state, in encouraging entrepreneurship, and making the state safe for all.