The Arewa Youths Consultative Council, AYCC says it has commenced the recruitment of over *137,000* youths in the 19 northern states of Nigeria to curb raging insecurity in the region.
At the 2021, AYCC National Youth Conference held in Kano, the National President of the group, Ambassador Zaid Alhaji said the recruitment exercise was designed to end insecurity in the region.
According to him, the exercise would be for a period of 10 years beginning from 2021 to 2031.
” Project tagged Sustainable Security Project for 19 Northern States, SUSPRONS 2021—2031 includes engagement and sensitisation of youths as critical stakeholders to bring an end to the spate of kidnapping, banditry and Boko Haram insurgency in the North,” he said.
Alhaji said for a start, the group has begun recruitment and orientation of over 2,750,000 youths across the region, stressing that after wards, it planned to engage 1,145 youths every month and 13,750 youths every year.
He said; “Youths who would be trained to acquire major security traits, including the acts of community policing, with a view to helping security agencies nip to the bud, the nagging problem of banditry, kidnapping, insurgency and other forms of insecurity, which have endangered socio-econimic development in the North.”
“The project is also designed to build the capacity of women to actively play their role as mothers and to empower them in countering violent extremism and radicalisation,” he stated.
Alhaji said; “To discourage the recruitment of youths into various criminal gangs, banditry and Jihadist groups through awareness campaigns, sensitisation programmes and capacity development initiatives, among other issues.”
The Chairman of the occasion and Vice Chancellor of Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano, Professor Mukhtar Kurawa urged northern youths to wake up to challenges of saving the region from the problems occasioned by insecurity.
The Managing Director of Dala Inland Dry Port, Ahmad Rabi’u urged youths to emulate former leaders like ex-military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) and the late Dan Masaanin Kano, Dr. Yusuf Maitama Sule, among others, who made positive impacts in the region and the country in their early days as youths.
Rabi’u urged them to be of good character and try to work independently without always thinking of relying on government.
“For you to achieve, organise yourselves and use your resources to get to where you want to go,” he advised.
Yusuf Galambi, representing Gwaram Federal Constituency, Jigawa State, presented a paper on, “Youths and Insecurity: A Time Bomb That Must Be Addressed Urgently.”
Also, Hajiya Maimuna Garba of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Kano State Command, spoke on, “Drug Abuse and The Future of Youth,” while Hajiya Hauwa El-Yakub, delivered a paper entitled, “Youths in Present and Future Political Space.”
Lateefah Ibrahim
