The National Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (N—HYPPADEC) has called for a law criminalising the non-use of life jackets by boat passengers in the country.
The commission particularly implored the leadership of Houses of Assembly in its catchment areas to immediately commence the processes of enacting the law to reduce death rates from boat mishaps in riverine communities across the states.
The managing director of HYPPADEC, Abubakar Yelwa, stated this in Ilorin, Kwara State, during a stakeholders’ meeting on the agency’s Youth Transformation Programme (YTP).
He said that the enactment of the law became necessary because of the wanton loss of lives to boat mishaps in some parts of the country, recalling how a riverine community lost 130 persons to a single boat mishap.
Represented by the director of community and rural development, Dr Mahmud Muhammed, the HYPPADEC boss said the agency had trained over 5,000 youths on its YTP scheme.
He said 800 youths who benefitted from the scheme in Kwara State will soon get starter packs to commence their businesses and possibly employ others.
He said the starter packs that would be distributed to the beneficiaries trained in 15 vocations, including tailoring and fish farming, cost N255,620,973.
He enjoined the beneficiaries not to sell the starter packs but to use them judiciously, adding that „we do this to remove the youths from the streets and ensure security in society. We encouraged them to choose their preferred vocations. About 5000 youths were trained across the member-states of HYPPADEC.“
Earlier, the state coordinator of HYPPADEC, Hajiya Ajarat Al-Hassan, had said that 800 Kwara youths were trained in the agency‘s youth transformation programme.
„We have trained 800 youths in every area of skills under the YTP scheme. We paid the beneficiaries some stipend during the training. We shall soon provide them with starter packs,“ she said.