By Kelvin Obambon
Comrade Emmanuel Olayi, state chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Cross River chapter, has highlighted some of the achievements recorded five months into his administration.
Olayi who spoke during the NYCN stakeholders meeting/leadership roundtable held at the Youth House in Calabar on Friday, disclosed that the council in collaboration with the Cross River State Ministry of Youth Development, has mobilized 1,000 young persons for a 3-month ICT training sponsored by the World Bank.
He said the NYCN under his leadership was able to appeal to youths in the state not to join the nationwide hunger protest in October by working collaboratively with relevance agencies to dialogue with young persons. This, he added, had contributed to maintaining peace and tranquility in Cross River. He said the council had compiled and presented to the government a list detailing challenges faced by young people across the state.
The council chairman further stated that “as a team we thought it wise to organize a free medical outreach for the host community. Over 100 persons from this community where the Youth House is located, benefitted from the medical outreach. Medications, counselling and health education were given to them. As offshoot of that we were able to identify persons who needed surgeries. Good enough we had the presence of the governor’s wife who immediately absorbed those persons into her free healthcare.”
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He also said that the state chapter of NYCN had engaged and made representation on the Calabar-Itu road before the Minister of Youth Development and was optimistic that the Minister had followed it up with relevant federal government agencies responsible for the repair of the road.
“We also requested that through her office she should relate with other ministers who are responsible to support agriculture. We informed her that the previous administration had done something on ‘Back To Farm’ which is geared towards helping young people. She accepted to take that to the Honourable Minister.
“As an offshoot of that engagement, as I speak now we have about 25 young persons who have been in a camp in Port Harcourt for two weeks. They’ve been training them on different agricultural value-chain, and we expect to receive them tomorrow (Saturday). The feedback I got is that the programme has been rewarding,” he said.
On the concluded local government elections, the NYCN chairman informed that “we advocated for young people to participate, and I am happy to announce that across party lines, young persons have been given privileges to run for office and a number of them have been elected. A number of them have also been selected as vice chairmen and they are currently serving. That’s a plus to us.”
Emphasizing inclusivity as the thrust of the current NYCN leadership, Comrade Olayi announced that the council would unveil a structure to cater for people with special needs on the 3rd of December, 2024. He also said that plans were on to organize a youth summit in 2025, where young persons would engage with the government as an offshoot of the dialogue the council had during the nationwide hunger protest.
In her remarks, the director of youths in the ministry of Youths Development, Jane Frances Kamgba, commended the youths for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner during the NYCN election, urging them to continue to be orderly as they represent the future of Cross River.
She also commended the Chairman of the Council, Comrade Emmanuel Olayi for showing leadership in his engagements within and outside the state. She said the ministry would continue to support the NYCN to enable it achieve its mandates.
There were also good will messages from stakeholders of the Council made up of past chairmen and leaders, Voluntary Youth Organizations among others.