By Jude Michael
No fewer than 440 young men and women in Ayamelum Local Government Area, Anambra State, are currently undergoing training in various skills under the state’s 1 Youth, 2 Skills programme for economic self-reliance.
The leader of the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU), youth wing, Ayamelum LGA, Comrade Chinedu Martin Nweke, disclosed this in a press interview in Awka, recently.
The Ayamelum youth leader, popularly addressed as ASATU youth mayor, described the 1 Youth, 2 Skills programme as “impressively marvelous and a game-changer in employment narratives in the state”.
He said: “The programme is real; it’s not like what was obtainable in the past.
“We, the youth leaders, are fully involved… we monitor the progress of the training.
“In Ayamelum, we have 11 wards – each has 40 registered beneficiaries… you can multiply it 40 by 11. You can see that the number is huge.
“The beneficiaries of this (pilot) phase are being engaged in various skills, such as electrical, building, furniture, tailoring, and others, in the various centres or workshops of the master trainers that have the required capacity.”
Appreciating the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, for the programme, Comrade Nweke stated that the governor was using the policy to restore the past glory and identity of the Igbo people.
Comrade Nweke, who described the skill acquisition programme as a solution policy, expressed the belief that if the programme would be sustained as planned, it would go a long way to nipping crimes and criminalities associated with the youth in the bud.
He therefore advised Governor Soludo to ensure its continuity, and never to succumb to the criticisms and distractions of the political jobbers whose primary intent, he said, was to bring down every policy that ensures the happiness of the ordinary people in society.
The Ayamelum ASATU youth mayor also commended the state commissioner for youth development and empowerment, Mr Patrick Agha Mba, whom he described as a go-getter and brainchild behind the 1 Youth, 2 Skills programme.
He pledged the total support of the Ayamelum youth to the policies and programmes of the Soludo administration for a livable and prosperous Anambra State.
