Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, former governor of Enugu State, has said the youths need Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as their president in 2023.
The Enugu East Senator, in a statement in Abuja, recalled that Tinubu on the assumption of office in 1999 embarked on a series of sustainable policies towards addressing the high unemployment rate, sense of instability, and youth bulge that were unusual challenges for the class of 1999.
“Lagos State at the period saw a significant influx of youths looking for better livelihood. Tinubu recognised that it would have been disastrous if left unattended, and therefore launched waves of reforms that re-invigorated the economy and ensured that the vast majority of the working population, who were primarily youths, were employed,” he said.
Tinubu, he stated, also established the anti-drug misuse campaign initiative to inform adolescents about the risks associated with illicit drugs, pointing out that the pervasive drug abuse epidemic had successfully, destroyed many young people.
To further address the challenges, Nnamani said Lagos under Tinubu distributed over N1m in grants to each of the registered voluntary youth organizations as tokens of appreciation for their helpful efforts at reorientation and to encourage them to be more productive.
“Tinubu also increased the annual funding for the rehabilitation agencies to over three million Naira and subsequently created youth centers so that people would participate in educational and recreational activities that would help them develop healthy self-esteem in a secure and well-supervised environment,” the Enugu East Senator stated.
He added: “Tinubu’s administration spent N14 million and N4 million respectively, to renovate the Onikan Youth Centre on Lagos Island and the Akinwunmi Youth Centre in Ikeja while Recreational facilities that had been abandoned for years were renovated, and open areas were transformed into places where youths could unwind and express their creativity in healthy ways”.
Further adducing reasons to justify that Tinubu is youth-friendly, Nnamani pointed out that the Akowonjo open space received a total investment of seven million Naira, whereas the long-abandoned Igbogbo open space in Ikorodu was completely rehabilitated.
“Vocational training centers were developed by Tinubu’s administration in March 2003 to rehabilitate hoodlums, neighborhood boys, and the homeless who were desirous of making a turning point in their lives by economically empowering them through training in professions like carpentry, shoemaking, hairdressing and tie-and-dye”, the Senator stressed.
Nnamani recalled that the vocational centres project, which Tinubu launched in November 2005, also received the international millennium award for sustainable human development.
As Governor, he said, Tinubu provided small and medium-sized farmers in Lagos State with agricultural input valued at N150 million through the Lagos State Agricultural Micro-Credit Scheme in an effort to increase food production.