Group seeks passage of Benue youth development commission bill

Women Environmental Programme (WEP), a non-governmental organisation, in partnership with Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) has asked the Benue state house of assembly to pass a bill establishing Benue youth development commission.

Priscilla Achakpa, WEP global president, while speaking with members of Benue house of assembly, on Friday,  advocated for the passage of the bill to help sensitise and empower youths in the state.

“You would agree with me that the issues of the youth and the problems we are having in Nigeria today is not an easy task. Around the country, everywhere you go, the youths are the ones perpetuating violence because most of them have graduated from schools and are unemployed and so they fall very cheaply for anyone who gives them a stipend to go out and perpetrate violence,” she said. 

“And so we feel as an organisation we believe that establishing a youth commission where we have a lot of partners that will suppose this commission in terms of funding is very key in bustling the capacities of our youth” 

She said establishing the youth commission would help “remove youths from the street.” 

Yetunde Adegoke, national coordinator of GCERF, said the organisation is keen on preventing violence extremism. 

She said the intervention is focused in the north-central because GCERF noticed that the region is a potential target for extremist recruitment, adding that their mission is to prevent such occurrences in the region by engaging the youths in meaningful skills. 

Adegoke said youths who are not engaged are more vulnerable to violence and this has fueled the challenges Nigeria faces.

Titus Uba, speaker of the Benue state house of assembly, appreciated the group, noting that the house will support them by passing the bill to set up a youth commission. 

“What they are doing is to empower the youth, to create a commission for the youths and this is what society is looking for to take our youths off the streets and when they are taken off the streets, those social vices will also be taken away from them. 

“Basically that is what the bill is trying to project, we as the house of assembly we are strongly behind this bill and we will also get the executive to quickly assent to it once the bill is passed so we can take our youths off the streets” he said.