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Tag: youths

  • Davido urges youths to protect country’s democracy

    After his London O2 Arena concert which he described at the ‘greatest night’ of his life, hip hop star Davido has said he is more interested in making Nigeria a better place.

    The artiste took to social media to urge Nigerians to ensure their voice is heard by voting and defending their votes as the country goes to polls on February 16, 2019.

    “After the greatest night of my life, I am more inspired than ever to keep changing the narrative about Nigeria and Nigerians,” Davido said as he shared a short video which focuses on why Nigerians should protect the country’s democracy.

    “On February 16th, WE can decide the future of our country. This is why I am supporting the #DefendYourVote initiative. ?

    “God will not come down from heaven to save Nigeria, we must do it ourselves. Every 4 years we have the opportunity to do that, and we must take it. A “nothing will change” mentality is the reason we are where we are. If you can vote and you don’t – you are part of the problem. We must go to the polls and let our voices be heard. Please follow @defendyourvotes #DefendYourVote.”

    Since campaigning for his uncle who contested the Osun State gubernatorial election, Davido’s interest in politics has risen.

    Last Sunday, the singer had kept his promise of shutting down 20, 000 capacity London O2 Arena as he held his ‘Davido In Concert.’

    The artistes that performed at the event include Mayorkun, Peruzzi, Idowest, Dremo, Yonda and Zlatan. Also, various DJs including Tim Westwood and DJ Ecool thrilled the audience.

    When it was time for Davido to grace the stage, he stood on an elevated platform dangling above the stage and commanding a sweeping view of the expansive arena.

    Celebrating the event and saying America should get ready for him, Davido took to his Instagram account to post a video and write: “Yesterday was the best day of my life… let me just leave this here for motivation! Thank you London  tell America IM COMING!”

    Sharing another video which had attendees lighting up the arena with their phones, OBO as Davido is also fondly called, wrote: “Look at the smile on this kids face !! Priceless reason I do it!”

    Hardworking Davido recently dropped a single, ‘Bum Bum’ which featured Zlatan.

  • APC women, youths mobilise for Buhari, Osinbajo in Southwest

    Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was practically locked down yesterday as female and youth members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gathered to mobilise for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari and his running mate, Prof. YemiOsinbajo.

    Women and youth groups from the six states of Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti and Osun stormed the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (formerly Liberty Stadium) in different customised APC uniforms to express their support and persuade others to join the second-term bid of the president and his deputy.

    To the women, Buhari’s support for the various market groups with financial aids and social investment facilities, including Tradermoni, Marketmoni and N-Power as well as the administration’s other achievements in infrastructure, security and anti-corruption make their re-election deserving.

    The delegates were led by the wives of the state governors, including EreluBisiFayemi (Ekiti), Mrs.BolanleAmbode (Lagos), Mrs.OlufunsoAmosun (Ogun), Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu (Ondo), Mrs.KafayatOyetola (Osun) and Mrs. Florence Ajimobi (Oyo), who doubles as the chief host and Southwest Zonal Coordinator of the group. Wives of the governors of Kebbi and Nassarawa were also in attendance alongside the national and zonal women leaders of the governing party.

    To support the women, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, represented by a former deputy governor of Lagos State, Mr. Femi Pedro, Governors KayodeFayemi (Ekiti), GboyegaOyetola (Osun), AbiolaAjimobi (Oyo), former and serving deputy governors, Ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, among other party stalwarts, were also in attendance.

     

     

  • Elections: Clerics urge youths to shun violence

    Youths have been urged to shun violence before, during and after the 2019 general election.

    Most Rev. Obafemi Adeleye, who gave the advice yesterday while addressing reporters in Yaba, Lagos, ahead of his enthronement as the first Archbishop of the newly-created Archdiocese of Lagos Mainland tomorrow, said youths should not allow themselves to be used by unscrupulous politicians to foment trouble, in order not to disrupt the elections.

    He said: “We should allow peace to reign in the country. Election is not a do or die affair. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should ensure a free and fair poll devoid of controversies. It should improve on its performance in 2015.

    “In Methodist Church Nigeria, we empower our youths to dissuade them from crimes and reduce the rate of unemployment in our society.”

    The cleric said Archdiocese of Lagos Mainland was carved out of Lagos Archdiocese to further boost evangelism and spread the good news, adding that creating the new archdiocese was normal and indicated progress and development in the work of God.

    According to him, in the last five years, not fewer than six of such archdioceses had been created.

    “Besides my enthronement on Saturday by the Prelate Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Kanu Uche, the respected man of God will also inaugurate Archdiocese of Lagos Mainland and present the Lay President of the archdiocese, Sir Benjamin Oshadiya,” he said.

    Rev. Adeleye said other officers of the archdiocese would be dedicated at the event.

     

     

  • Edo mobilises youths for Elumelu’s $5000 grant

    Edo State is mobilising young entrepreneurs, small business owners and unemployed youths to access the Tony Elumelu foundation’s $5,000 grant and other opportunities, it was learnt.

    It has organised a one-day workshop for young entrepreneurs and start-ups to enable them access available grants and funding to boost their businesses.

    Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Employment and Cooperatives, Emmanuel Usoh, said it was the government’s commitment to ensure that small businesses and start-up strive by creating a powerful local economy to positively affect the generality of our people.

    Usoh, who spoke at a press briefing, said it was a way of enhancing the growth of the state’s local economy,

    He said: “The state government discovered that there are so many available sources of empowerment for young business people from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry (BoI), and other several intervention agencies.

    “There is a $5,000 grant available through the Tony Elumelu Foundation for young entrepreneurs and there are many young persons in the state who have benefited from the foundation so, we are engaging them to come and teach our young entrepreneurs on how they could access these funds because we also discovered that some of them are not aware of the procedure to access these available grants, hence the decision to organise this workshop.”

  • Unilorin VC decries rate of drug abuse among youths

    Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, on Monday in Ilorin lamented the rising cases of drug abuse among youths in the country.

    Abdulkareem made this known at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Dawa Holiday Programme jointly organised by some Muslim organisations known as The Companion, The Criterion and The Dawn for selected Muslim youths from five states of the federation.

    He said that as parents and guardians, it was incumbent on them to inculcate in their wards character in upbringing

    “Character is the first thing we have to work upon, but unfortunately we have totally neglected it. Now, we are having another menace in the society.

    “Our children are on drugs. I can’t even smoke a cigarette talk less of drinking wine or getting intoxicated. But Muslim youths are getting into that now.

    “And I believe it is because our mothers and our parents are not working on them hard enough,” he said.

    “Character is what eventually makes a human being and attitude is your character.’’

    The vice-chancellor appealed to mothers to work harder in the training and upbringing of their children.

    Read Also: ASUU strike: Varsity teachers beg Buhari to show mercy

    Abdulkareem urged Muslim youths to use the Quran as their guide and allow it to reflect in their character.

    Earlier, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Bilkisu Oniyangi, described the programme as part of the extra-curricular activities required to stimulate the social wellbeing of the youth.

    Oniyangi advised against drug abuse while appealing to the youths who attended the programme to be good ambassadors by relaying the theme and messages of the campaign to other youths on good character.

    National Amir of The Dawn, Nurein Balogun, said that the camping programme was designed as a platform to mentor and unite Muslim youths.

  • APC candidate to empower more women, youths

    Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Ibadan South East and North East Federal Constituency Deji Aboderin has promised to empower women, youths and care for the aged, if elected.

    According to him, he had empowered over 2,000 youths, women and traders, saying many aged people had benefited from his gesture.

    The APC candidate, who addressed reporters yesterday in Ibadan, said his party “is waxing stronger everyday”.

    He said: “Traders, youths, market men and women have realised that the APC-led government means well for Nigerians. In the last three years, we have seen developments in infrastructure and human development.

    “I have empowered more than 2,000 individuals. I don’t want to promise what is not achievable because we will empower people based on resources available. Definitely, it will be far more than what we have are doing before now because of the government’s intervention.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Abiola Ajimobi have done well in job creation. We will complement their efforts by empowering more people in the next four years. I have also decided to facilitate Federal Government jobs for youths in my constituency. Other areas are the sponsorship of bills with direct bearing on our people when I get to the green chamber.

    “I am not a politician who will not walk his talk. I will deliver on all promises. I will further fulfil my charity obligations by bringing in local and foreign donors to support and assist our people. Remember I was in England for years, and I have a number of people I have built relationships with.”

    On the achievements of President Buhari that will make the people in the Southwest vote for his party, Aboderin said: “You can see the road network from Lagos to Ibadan almost completed. Rail transportation from Lagos to Ibadan will also be ready next year. Abuja to other parts of the North will be completed soon. The level of corruption in the country is reducing and we have achieved in many areas.

    “I believe that in the next four years, if Nigerians vote for APC at all levels, things will continue to get better.”

     

  • Drug abuse: Youths using embalming oil, paint, petrol – NDLEA

    The rate of drug abuse in Adamawa and other states around the  country is on the increase as addicts increasing resort to use of embalming oil, paint,  petrol, and such readily available  substances.
     
    The Head of Drug Reduction Unit of the Adamawa State Command of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Shehu Dankolo, who spoke to The Nation correspondent on drug abuse, said the resort to unconventional drugs resulted from the banning of cocaine and tightening of rules regarding the purchase and consumption of tramadol, diazephaem, tyre solution and other conventional drugs.
     
    Explaining the prevailing trend, Shehu Dankolo said, “Youths are increasingly using psychoactive substances. They are the substances in vogue now. Take for instance formalin, that is embalming oil, the fluid for embalming the dead. That one is sniffed now or orally taken. Formalin is used legally mostly in hospitals for embalming dead bodies but people have experimented with it and abuse it for mood altering purposes. They put it in a nylon bag and blow and draw on it.
    “There is rubber solution, otherwise called sholly, the one normally used in patching tyres. They blow and draw on it and it makes them feel on the air, as if they are flying. When you see someone in the street with his two hands up in the air as they walk, they most likely have taken rubber solution and feel they are flying.
    “Super glue is also now sniffed to get high. Then you have tipex, the substance that women apply on their nails. They sniff it. They also sniff petrol, then kerosine and paint. All these things are called organic solvents or inhailants.”
    According to him, the solvents have  worse effects on addicts than the prescription drugs hitherto abused. He explained, “These inhailants are number one in terms of drugs that cause irreversable effects. If you are hooked on it and it damages your brain, there is nothing anyone can do for you. And people who take such drugs are very difficult to manage, they are difficult to rehabilitate. After the counselling and rehabilitation we do here, if they go to school, they won’t understand anything. Organic solvents damage the brain faster and more acutely and in forms that are irreversable.”
    Speaking on the way out, he said the factors for drug abuse must be tackled and that laws need to be made to address the different substances being abused. He said, “Lack of relevant legislation or weakness in enforcing enacted laws encourage the festering of drug abuse. Those of them that are legislated upon, like tramadol, codeine, totolin, sodein, marijuana, cocaine, Indian hemp, diazepharm and all of that, they can be prosecuted, but when it comes to psychoactive substances, there is no  legislation to regulate their use and those who use them cannot be prosecuted in court.”

  • Youths advised on community development

    For several hours penultimate Sunday, prominent sons, daughters, wives, in-laws, friends and well-wishers of Amaimo People’s Assembly (APA) resident in Lagos gathered at the Glorypoint Group of Schools at Costain area of Lagos for their special prayer session and get-together. They also used the occasion to appraise the activities of the Assembly and to strategise for the coming year.

    Primarily, the event was put together to enable the youth of Amaimo, which is one of the most populous towns in Imo State to embrace the people’s cultures and traditions and to also identify with the gathering of Umunna to enable them to continue with the mores of the land when their fathers have retired or joined their ancestors.

    Nature, as if in total appreciation of the moods of the members of the community, played very rewarding role. The hot scotching sun became humane. The harsh atmosphere suddenly turned out to be friendly. The sun shone brightly out of the azure sky. The cool breeze caressed the skin to ease the hitherto unpleasant feelings of the members.

    Songs, praises and worship which were conducted by the in-house prayer warrior, Evangelist Valentine Mgbemere and others created an atmosphere of razzmatazz. Huge crowd gathered to behold a socio-cultural spectacle and catch some fun usually experienced once in a year.

    It was all glamour and show of opulence, as an estimated crowd of 3,000 that included members of Amaimo People’s Assembly in Lagos, friends, well-wishers and some prominent indigenes of Lagos, participated in the celebration.

    As early as 12 noon that day, the roomy arena had begun to witness massive influx of spectators.

    Gaily dressed Amaimo women known for their panache and active social lifestyle were a marvel to behold. The men equally in their several and beautiful attire swirled to the suiting rhythm of drums and other musical instruments in that somewhat balmy afternoon. It was a gathering of who is who in Igbo land.

    The venue was enveloped in an air of brotherliness and friendship. It was, indeed, a gathering of who-is-who in this peaceful Imo community in Lagos.

    Speaking as Chairman on the occasion, the Executive Director, Corporate Services, Mr. Fab Uzor expressed his happiness over the initiative by the leadership of APA to encourage our young ones to cultivate the habit of identifying with their elderly ones.

    “Cultural gatekeepers have maintained that the future of any nation rests on the shoulders of youths of today since the responsibility of leading the society in future rests squarely on their shoulders. Therefore, anything targeted at this group of persons must be worthwhile and directed at helping them in fulfilling their purpose as would-be leaders.

    “Leadership is an art as well as an activity through which the affairs of men in the society are directed in line with the attainment of goals. As youths get prepared for leadership roles; it is pertinent to acquire moral standards and values that will mold them into personalities ready to lead for the progress of the society.

    “As older generations tutor the younger ones, it is incumbent on the younger generations to take over the mantle of leadership from the older when their bones become weak and their strength become feeble.

    He noted that the end of the year celebration affords sons and daughters the opportunity to know themselves better.

    “It is an opportunity for most of us to know ourselves better and also a platform to tell us about the history of our community.

    “This platform enables us all to gather ones a year, fundamentally at the twilight of the year, to give praises to God for sustaining us all through the year and also to remind us that there is no place like home. In any circumstance, we will still go back to Amaimo,” he said.

    He, however, frowned at the low turnout of people at the get-together, noting that he would partake in any endeavour to ensure unity and more attendance of the meeting by the indigenes both within and outside the country from 2019.

    “The attendance was not encouraging as I had expected quite a huge crowd based on the fact that there are several thousands of Amaimo sons and daughters resident in Lagos.

    “We should understand that occasions such as this would help in addressing issues affecting youths in the community. I urge members to be more committed to the affairs of the community,” he said.

    Expressing his determination to develop the union, he explained that robust membership in the union would be a key focus next year.

    “It is my hope that next year’s edition would be better in terms of attendance and preparation as I will have a chat with the President of APA on the way forward.

    “Anything that we need to do to get people of Amaimo united, make them think home and make them to understand that we have no other home than Amaimo, I will play a part in it.

    Mr. Uzor advised the youth “to think home, sleep home, and eat home. Whatever they do, they should think of home first. We are going make them embrace our vision in 2019 and beyond which is showing more commitment to the development of our community and work towards its advancement.”

    Addressing the members earlier, the President of APA, Chief Joseph Efuneshi expressed the need for APA members to rise above the primordial notion that the essence of attending communal meetings is to be buried by the community when one dies.

    He said: “Town union such as ours is an agency of Amaimo community at large through which its development is achieved. Society and cultures are vibrant; therefore, social institutions grow with the society.

    “The Town union has continued to grow, especially in Igbo society and has acquired new names such as progressive association, development union and Town Union. Thus, the Town Union has assumed the status of civil society organisation with improved administrative structures. Apart from undertaking several development and infrastructural projects, it has continued to serve as the organ for local administration in Igbo land and in the Diaspora.

    The importance of community development cannot be relegated to the background as its significance stems from its recognised role in the process of achieving the improvement of economic, social, political and cultural conditions of the communities.”

    Dignitaries at the event were Chief Uba Igbokwe, Omekahuruanya of Umuofor, Dr and Mrs Igbokwe Jerlath, Executive Director Sims Samsung Mr Fab Uzor; President Amaimo People’s Assembly, Chief Joseph Efuneshi, his wife Lolo Gina Efuneshi; Chairperson Amaimo People’s Assembly Women’s wing Mrs Philomena Iheazor; Chief Charles Uwa; Chief Anyaso; Mrs Harriet Anyaso; Chairman Egbelu Town Mr. Ikechukwu Madu and Vice-President APA, Nwaneri Okey Vitalis.

    Others were Paul Onyeibe; John Onyeibe; Chidozie Iheazor; Pastor Okechukwu Onuoha; Mrs Ngozi Onuoha; Patrick Nwachukwu; Mr Israel Anyanwu; Assistant Secretary APA Abiaka Stanley Echedo; Mrs Eunice Okoro; Chairman Igbo Community Isolo Local Government Area, Hon. Tony Ofoegbu; Evangelist Valentine Mgbemere; Chairman Event Planning Committee, Mr Emma Ahamefule; his wife Princess Ahamefule; Rev (Dr) Louis Ekwugha and‘ Mr Emmanuel Ugo, among others.

     

  • SMEDAN trains 11,000 youths on business devt

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) intends to generate 444,000 direct jobs and an additional 1,776,000 indirect jobs from the training of 300 youths in every state off the federation.

    The training will come in the next three years under its National Business Skills Development Initiative (NBSDI). The agency in this year alone, has trained 11,000 artisans and youths in the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory.

    The  youths, during the five days training programme, were trained  on Personal and Business Visioning, Business Plan Development, Identification of Business Opportunities, Selling and Marketing strategies, Accessing Business Finance, Customer care and Legal and Regulatory Issues.

    A statement by the Corporate Affairs Unit of the Agency noted that the National Business Skills Development Initiative (NBSDI) is a programme designed to support the entrepreneurship component of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), a tripartite intervention by SMEDAN, ITF, and BOI to fill the capacity gap of the youths. The programme was designed to absorb the graduates of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF)’s vocational skills training programme.

    The initiative, according to the statement, was designed to ensure that more professional services will be provided by local and well trained young artisans thereby leading to reduction in job losses to immigrants from neighboring countries.

    The statement quoted the Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion department of the Agency, Monday Ewans as saying that the programme focuses on providing entrepreneurship and business management skills to the trained artisans so that they can sustain their businesses over a longer period of time.

    Ewans also said that the training programme seeks to pursue a drastic reduction in dependency poverty as most of the out of school youths who still rely on stipends from parents are empowered to become self-reliant.

    Ewans said that the Agency developed and delivered need-based entrepreneurship training curriculum that would help the participants to prepare bankable business plans that the Agency would submit and follow up with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Central Bank of Nigeria in respect of having access to loans under the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

  • Atiku promises youths 40 per cent appointments

    Former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has said 40 per cent of the appointments will go to youths, if elected.

    Atiku, who spoke yesterday in Lagos at a youth town hall meeting, said his administration would focus on job creation and infrastructure development.

    He added that the youths must be given the opportunity to serve and develop their leadership skills.

    The former vice president said as future leaders, the best way to get them ready for the task ahead was to get them practically involved.

    He added that youths constitute an integral part of the electoral process.

    Atiku said: “I am making this promise that 40 per cent of appointments in my government will be youth. It is a promise. I will not break it. My Minister of Youth Development will be younger than 30 years.

    “Therefore, if you are younger than 30 years, you can bring your CV. This is simply because the youths are the future of this country. We will build a good future for the country through them.

    “We are here because of your future. I have four children but only one is working for government while the rest are working for me in my various companies.”

    The PDP candidate said he intended to create jobs by lowering taxes and industrial tariffs for the private sector.

    The former vice president noted that this was the trend in industrialised economy.

    “In most industrialised countries, it is the private sector that creates jobs. How do they do that? They lower the tax rate.

    “If you issue lower tax rates to most companies, they will create jobs. These are the types of incentives you offer the private sector so that they will be able to create jobs.

    “I know about creation of jobs and I understand the dynamics of stable and focused economies. As it is, the present administration has no economist. That is what you get in such a situation.”

    PDP’s vice presidential candidate  Peter Obi said the Federal Government’s trader-moni programme was not impacting.

    He said: “They are giving market traders N10,000 for their businesses. I don’t know anywhere in the world such exists.

    “It is called vote-buying. If you go to anywhere in the world, such is non-existent. The country is experiencing a lot of hardship every day and we continue this way.”