Minister urges youths to develop their potentials

Ene Osang

The Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Boni Haruna, has urged youths to develop their potentials, saying that they needed to acquire new skills and entrepreneurial capabilities to realise their ambitions.
In a statement by the Assistant Director Press and Public Relations, Olusola Abiola, Haruna gave the charge while addressing the 2014 batch A corps members deployed to Borno and Gombe states at the Gombe state permanent orientation camp at Malam Sidi, Gombe.
He noted that youths needed to be focused on job creation initiatives, stressing that Public Service, worldwide, have been shrinking due to technological innovation and advancement.

He said his visit to the camp was to check the welfare of corps members, and assure them of government’s commitment to youth development.
He said: “President Goodluck Jonathan is more than ever committed to the wellbeing and development of the lives of the teeming youths of Nigeria against the backdrop of several economic empowerment initiatives and other programmes put in place for their overall development.”
Recalling the event of post-2011 election deaths of some corps members, the Minister said no responsible government would ignore the security of its citizens, adding that the Ministry “will work with all the stakeholders to ensure safety of that the corps members.”
“The federal government has put also in place adequate security for the corps members ahead the 2015 elections; I would use this tenure to address the challenges confronting the youth.”

Haruna appealed to the Gombe state governor to put the NYSC under the Ministry of Youth Development and Poverty Alleviation instead of the present arrangement which “places the scheme under the office of the Head of Service.”
Earlier, the state coordinator of NYSC in Gombe, Mr. Teyama Nguse, lamented the poor supply of electricity to the camp, saying it was recently disrupted due to a faulty transformer.