The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure(NASENI) and Yobe State University, Damaturu, have agreed, in the spirit of corporate social responsibility, to collaborate in the deployment of technology and engineering tools in the North-east to create jobs for youths, men and women in the areas to make their recruitment into insurgency impossible.
Speaking at the weekend in Abuja when the vice chancellor of the university, Prof.Yakubu Muhktar and his team visited the headquarters of NASENI, the executive vice chairman of NASENI, Prof Mohammed Sani Haruna, said insurgency in North-East had continued largely because of high rate of unemployment of youths, men and women in the areas.
This was contained in a statement by the deputy director, information of the agency, Mr Olusegun Ayeoyenikan
He said: “The absence of viable economic alternatives for the youths and men in those areas has made them vulnerable to crime.”
“If the mineral resources available in the North-East, especially in Yobe state, were harnessed using technology tools available in NASENI, the youths would be gainfully employed and this naturally would turn them away from insurgency activities which advertently expose them to danger,” the NASENI boss further added.
While saying an Idle hand is the devil’s workshop, Haruna said: “The collaboration between NASENI and Yobe State University would see to the training of unemployed youths around the areas in skill acquisition through waste to wealth technologies that are available in NASENI.
“The intention is to get the youths out of the streets. NASENI will teach the youths, men and women on new skills so they can meet their livelihood thereby reducing the tendency to take to crime.”
He said: “Yobe State is blessed with mineral resources and if the state could deploy some of the technologies in NASENI, the youths will be trained on how to use locally developed technologies to harness the resources in the State thereby creating opportunities for gainful employment for themselves.”
He listed the possible areas of intervention by the agency to include; water project or irrigation through the use of small hydro kinetic turbine or the solar energy produced by NASENI to generate electricity.
He also said the schools destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents can be refurbished by providing educational tools, especially primary and secondary laboratory equipment to be powered by solar.
Earlier in his remarks, the vice chancellor, Prof. Yakubu Muhktar commended NASENI for its several achievements, especially the development of engineering and technology infrastructures for the development of the country.
