The Igala sons and daughters at home and in diaspora have been urged to invest in mining to create wealth, generate jobs for the youths and eradicate poverty in the area.

The President, Enemona Humanitarian Foundation, Amb. Gabriel Onoja, made the call while speaking on Sunday in Abuja, during the 9th edition of the ”Arise Igala Leadership Awards and Lecture,” which he was one of the recipients.

Onoja urged well meaning Igala sons and daughters to come home and invest in mining in order to create wealth, generate jobs and eradicate poverty among the people of the land.

He expressed optimism that the peace many people had been preaching and yearning for, in Igala land would soon be a thing of the past.

According to him, God has blessed Igala land with lots of mineral resources, our ability of well meaning individuals from the kingdom to harness the abundant resources would pave way for the desired development.

“We all know that Igala land is blessed with indices of development, regrettably most of our rich men and women have refused to take the advantage of the mineral resources we have to invest so that the land can develop.

“We can not attained the desired peace we all crave for until we are able to reduce the high rate of poverty in the land.

”You can not stop a young man from committing crime when you refused to impact positively on his life.

”That is why I have chosen to invest vigorously on human capital development through our numerous empowernment programme via Enemona Josh Humanitarian Foundation” he said.

Onoja expressed optimism that the peace and unity would be achieved very soon, while appealing to politicians to love one another in the interest of the land.

He added that, ”a situation where every body wanted to be governor, senator or House of Representative member at all cost, will not promote the peace and unity the people are yearning for.

”It is time for Igala people to speak with one voice” he pleaded.

While appreciating Arise Igala Leadership Awards for bestowing on him the prestigious Arise Igala humanitarian award, the philanthropist said the award has posed a challenge to him to do more for humanity.

He thanked the organisation for the award saying it would spur him to redouble his effort in ensuring that more less privilege in the society benefit from his humanitarian services.

“In the past three years I have been able to bring some developments to our land through my foundation, Enemona Humanitarian Foundation.

”We are able to empowerment youths, widow, orphans and we also engaged youth in artisanal mining at various sites in Kogi.

“Before the end of September 2022, my foundation will offer one hundred percent scholarship to over one thousand children in Inele Ugoh community to study free of charge at primary and secondary school level,” he aid

The convener of the event, Mr James Okpanachi Onoja, said the purpose of the leadership awards which commenced in 2014, was to recognise selfless service among Igala sons and daughters to motivate them to do more for Igala nation.

He thank the dignitaries who were able to honour the invitation and also charged the recipients of the award not to relent in the effort to do more for humanity.

End

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the 774,000 jobs under the Special Public Works Programme (SPWP) noting that flag-off of the project on Tuesday signposts a Government committed to the upliftment and improvement of the lives of the mass of Nigeria’s most productive population, which is the youth.

In his speech at the start-off of the Special Public Works Programme in Ibadan, Oyo State, Mr Dare noted the programme, designed along other similar ones being implemented by more developed nations, is a validation that President Buhari’s Government has focus and purpose and is a government that is bold in its actions and committed to programmes that will deal with socio-economic problems.
The Minister, who was represented by the Zonal Coordinator of the Ministry, Mr Ajao Olufemi, stated that, “Across the nation, beginning today, 774,000 Nigerian youth mostly unskilled and semi -skilled, will participate in this Special Public Works Programme (SPWP) for 3 months. The engagement of this large group by the Federal Government in productive ventures, I believe, is the beginning of a more robust engagement of our youth in national development.

“Undoubtedly, this novel initiative joins a slew of numerous youth programmes already put in place by the Buhari-led administration. This administration’s commitment to youth engagement and development is unparalleled. Yet, it intends to do more partnering with the private sector in a bid to increase the number of the youth population provided with life-changing opportunities.

“We have received the greatest assurances from Mr President, who only a few days ago, on January 1st said this,

“Our young people are our most valuable natural resource, at home and abroad. Their ingenuity, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit is evident to all. Many of our young people are excelling in various spheres of life including sports, entertainment, information and communication technology, commerce and are globally recognized as achievers. As a Government, we are committed to actively engaging with the creative energies of our young people. In this regard, we will partner with the legislature to develop an enabling environment to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled across regions. This will create vast opportunities in fintech, agriculture, business process startups and in the entertainment industry.””

Mr. Dare asserted that Nigerian youth could take Mr. President’s commitment to the bank and that the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD), aligns and commit itself fully to the youth of the country.

According to him, “Our commitment is evidently emphasized by the FMYSD-driven Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), which has successfully completed its pilot disbursement of loans totaling N165,700,000.00 to 239 beneficiaries ahead of the processing of the over 3,000,000 applications so far received.

“The Fund, approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on July 22, 2020, is being implemented in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP) and disbursed through the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Microfinance Bank (NMFB).

“For all that has been mentioned above, the youth and the good people of Oyo State thank Mr. President for this great opportunity that the Special Public Works Programme (SPWP) provides and look forward to benefiting from similar laudable national projects,” he said.

Signed

Media Office to the  Minister of  Youth and Sports Development