Northern Groups to Tackle Youth Explosion in the Region

Coalition of northern groups has unveiled plans  to organize a summit to  address the problem of youth explosion in the region as well as set up a permanent youth empowerment fund towards charting a meaningful future for them .

The coalition is comprised of  Arewa Development Initiative, Northern  Initiative for Promotion of ideals and values, Muryam Talaka and Centre for Human Resources Development and Youth Empowerment.

Prof Aliyu Abdulahi Jibia, from Bayero University Kano (BUK) who is also the Chairman of Arewa Development Initiative, disclosed this on Thursday when he led the delegation of the Coalition  on a courtesy call on the Chairman of the  Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ibrahim Mohammed Mallam Goje.

Prof Jibia who said the theme of the Northern summit is 'The Problems  of Youth Explosion in Northern Nigeria towards Charting a Meaningful Future and Setting Up a Permanent Youth Empowerment Fund  for youth' in the region lamented the deplorable state of development in the region since inception of democracy. 

The university don emphasised  that apart  from poverty and unemployment, youth explosion have taken over the region saying that genuine and urgent efforts should be evolved to chart a positive future for them .

According to him,  "Over 65 percent of youth in Northern Nigeria face one exploitation or the other as they hardly go to school, a situation that is disturbing. These necessitated  our reason to come together to organize the northern summit to address the problem with a view to charting a positive  future for them.

"It's unfortunate that average Northern youth engage in drug addiction  and even  the almajiri institution is been neglected  by the government. Also the number of school drop out is more than those enroledl in school,and no state government in the North can give u accurate statistics of the school drop today. What kind of future are we building?, he asked

Prof Jibia said "We also intend to set up a permanent youth empowerment fund because if we leave the youth in the hands of Youth and Sports ministries , they will suffer because bulk of the funds go to sport men without average of the youth getting anything.

"We plan to meet the Chairman of Northern Elders Forum, Northern  Governors Forum,among others  to intimate them on the objectives of the summit so that we can invite all Governors to participate in this two-day summit " ,he said.

Responding, the NUJ Chairman, Ibrahim Mallam Goje commended the initiative of the Northern groups on the planned summit saying it will go along way to address the challenges facing the region.

The Chairman who condemned the quit notice given to South Easterners residing in the North commended federal government for resolving the issue calling on regional organizations to desist from anything capable of bringing dis-unity in the country.