ENUGU— POVERTY has been identified as the major cause of rampant cases of drug addiction and peddling, cultism, prostitution, Advance Fee Fraud (419), armed robbery and other social vices prevalent in the country. Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State who made this known during a workshop on Youth Empowerment jointly sponsored by the state government and Department For International Development (DFID) in Enugu , said the only way out of the restiveness in the land was to effectively deal with poverty.
He emphasized the need for the people of the state to accept the poverty alleviation strategies of the government, which is aimed at creating wealth for the people. The workshop, the governor said, would enlighten participants on the poverty alleviation strategies of the government to ensure adequate participation.
Also speaking, the State Coordinator of DFID State and Local Government Programme on Youth Empowerment, Mr. Joe Abba said the programme was organized to get the youths involved in the democratic process, adding that the forum was to enable them air their views on the issue of poverty alleviation in order to integrate them into the strategies being mapped out to reduce poverty to the barest minimum in the state.
Giving an overview of the National Entrepreneurship Competition initiated by the state government to promote entrepreneurship, innovation, growth and development of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), Abba explained that under the programme, business minded young people (aged between 20 to 35 years) would be asked to submit ideas for business ventures, with the best idea receiving start-up funding of up to N5 million from the state government and its partners.”
A crucial part of the programme is a scheme to track the progress of the awardees from pre-inception through start-up to growth and full establishment of the businesses.
In the process, the State Government wishes to draw lessons to consolidate its efforts aimed at creating an investment-friendly environment in the state,” he added.He said that the youths would later visit the state House of Assembly to be able to use the procedure therefrom in conducting their Youth Parliament, which would eventually elect their officers at the end of the workshop.
