A Calabar-based religious organisation, Brotherhood of the Cross and Star (BCS), has budgeted over N46.9 million to train youths in different areas of human endeavours, including skills acquisition, agriculture, sports.
Spokesman for the organisation, Patriarch Christ Shepherd Edet Archibong, made this known in Calabar Monday, in a press conference to mark the commencement of a week-long activities of the 8th Annual Convention of the Brotherhood All Youth Assembly (BAYA) which he described as an umbrella body in charge of the empowerment programmes.
Patriarch Archibong explained that BAYA was established in 2012 to help youth to be financially independent so as to promote global peace for sustainable development and that its mandate was to come up with empowerment programme for youths in the next five years
“This is to directly empower not fewer than 230 youths with a projective multiplier effect of empowering and generating jobs for another 2,150 youths at the cost of N46,960,000 within the next five years.
‘Taking into cognizance the divergence in the felt-need of the youths, the plan has earmarked the flotation of programmes in different areas such as agriculture, education, entertainment, broadcasting as well as sports,” he stated.
He disclosed that 70 youths had already been trained in organic farming such as fish hatching and rearing, mushroom, pepper, fluted pumpkin, okro and tomatoes cropping amongst others this year.
He said the number were selected from ten states which include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Kogi and Rivers.
“Selection for the 2022 Empowerment Programme, which is on Education, will commence during this year’s Convention, precisely on Sunday. The process will involve contingents from different states picking tickets form lucky dip boxes for UTME (JAMB), WAEC and tuition fees. This is expected to produce 175 beneficiaries.
“The programme is an interventionist scheme that aims at purchase of UTME and WAEC forms and the provision of undergraduate and postgraduate scholarship,” Archibong stated, and added that with the programme “a good chunk of the youths will gain entry into a more stable and sustainable source of livelihood.
According to him, the BAYA Convention was already impacting hundreds of youths across the country, saying the annual convention had already been held in Rivers State, Abuja, Uyo, Lagos, Owerri, Yenegoa and Asaba.
He disclosed that BAYA was designed to promote holiness among youths, encourage evangelism, stimulate academic excellence, establish vocational/skills acquisition, institute and support entrepreneurship development as well as empowering the physically challenged in the society.
