From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The Katsina Vocational Training Centre on Thursday graduated 200 comprising women and girls who were trained on various skills and vocations.
Founded by the late Inspector-General of Police, MD Yusuf, the centre has trained and empowered thousands of youth from across the state over the past 10 years, according to organisers of the programme.
In a message he sent at the ceremony, Governor Aminu Bello Masari said that the initiative was in line with his administration’s policy of youth empowerment as part of efforts to check unemployment especially among the teeming youth population.
Also speaking at the programme, the former, Wazirin Katsina, Dr. Abubkara Lugga, noted that it is difficult to separate youth unemployment from the prevalence of security challenges in the country.
According to Lugga, tackling youth unemployment should be priority of governments at all levels, warning that, “otherwise, the problem posed by the Boko Haram sect in the North-East of the country may soon become a child’s play.
“You cannot stop insecurity, drugs abuse and related criminality when the youth are unemployed or have nothing doing but see children of politicians living in affluence, spending money they didn’t work for.”
Highpoint of the ceremony was distribution of equipment and cash grants to beneficiaries as business starter-packs.