Lokoja
Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has charged youths in the state to shun all forms of violence that were inimical to their future and that of the state.
The governor gave the charge in Lokoja yesterday during the 2018 Youth Summit on preventing violent extremism in Kogi state, organised by Actionaid, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth Empowerment, Sports and Student Affairs.
The governor noted that many youth in recent times had lost their lives to communal and political crises, as well as cultism, lamenting that “a situation where brothers killed themselves for the reasons best known to them portends serious danger to the society.”
He said: “It is a fact that at least five youth who are capable of adding value to the state’s economy lost their lives to various forms violent extremism.
“These are young people below 45 years of age killed or sent to their early graves without recourse for the future of the state.”
The governor, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Edward David Onoja, described the theme of the summit “Youths as Catalysts for Peace and Development” as “timely.”
Bello, who enjoined youth to develop thick skin against being used as political tools for destruction, vowed that he “will never sustain his position by killing or sponsoring any act that will result in the death of innocent souls.”
Earlier, the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Mamedu, said the NGO had been in the country since 2003.
“What we stand to gain is peace. There cannot be prosperity in the atmosphere of war. We are here to stamp out extremism and eradicate poverty,” he said.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Youth and Sport, Hon. Salisu Sani Ogu, called on the youth to do away with any action that “can promote violence.”
