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From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
Cross River State Government has approved N1.499 billion to equip 2,620 youths with vocational, technical and digital skills as well as start-up equipment, in a fresh push to move beneficiaries from skills acquisition to actual enterprise.
The approval, granted by the State Executive Council, will fund the Cross River Youth Skill Acquisition and Start-up Empowerment Programme, which Governor Bassey Edet Otu described as an investment designed to close the gap between training and access to productive assets.
Under the scheme, beneficiaries will receive practical training in market-driven skills and subsequently be provided with equipment to enable them establish businesses across sectors including agriculture, fashion, food processing, information and communication technology and other enterprises.
Otu said the government deliberately designed the programme to ensure that beneficiaries do not end their training with certificates without the means to put their skills to work.
“Our vision is to eliminate the gap between training and opportunity. Every beneficiary will leave this programme not just with knowledge but with the equipment required to translate that knowledge into sustainable income and prosperity,” the governor said.
The approved procurement package includes industrial sewing machines, laptops, cassava processing equipment, motorcycles, solar-powered freezers, washing machines, hand tillers, grain threshers, cake mixers, plantain slicers, solar-powered clippers and manual water pumps, among other specialised equipment.
The governor said the intervention was therefore more than a conventional skills acquisition programme, describing it as an economic empowerment strategy aimed at creating a new generation of entrepreneurs and employers of labour.
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“This administration is determined to build a self-reliant and industrious youth population. We are not merely training our young people; we are empowering them with the tools and resources they need to become employers of labour and active contributors to the state’s economy,” he said.
Otu said the intervention would also strengthen the state’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector, reduce youth unemployment and expand opportunities for income generation.
He added that placing productive assets directly in the hands of young people would help stimulate enterprise, innovation and economic activity within communities.
The governor further linked youth empowerment to peace and security, saying economically active youths would be less vulnerable to restiveness and other social pressures.
“Our administration remains convinced that empowering our youths is the surest pathway to lasting peace, security and shared prosperity,” he said.
The N1.4994 billion programme, according to the government, is expected to deepen entrepreneurship, encourage private-sector participation and expand the state’s MSME ecosystem while creating opportunities for sustainable wealth creation.
Otu reaffirmed that youth development remained a major component of his administration’s People First agenda, stressing that the state would continue to invest in initiatives aimed at employment, innovation and enterprise development.
