Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has assured the youths drawn from across the 31 local government areas of the state of more empowerment programmes through a special ministry of Youths Development to be announced in the next State Executive Council (SEC) meeting.
Governor Eno disclosed this during a Youth Appreciation Rally, held at the Uyo township stadium, to thank the youths across all political party lines for heeding to his plea not to be part of the last #EndBadGovernance protest, which he noted, could have led to killings and destruction of public assets and infrastructure of government.
The ministry, he said, “Will be headed by a youthful Commissioner between the age bracket of 40 – 45,” as the existing ministry of Youths and Sports with Sir Monday Ebong Uko, is already saddled with enormous responsibilities not to be able to effectively cater to the greater interest of the teeming youths in the state.
While acknowledging what he described as the show of followership, discipline and support to his administration by the mostly unemployed youths, the governor assured of more government interventions to better their lives.
He highlighted various youth support programme to include training and empowerment of 1,200 beneficiaries through Ibom Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development (IBOM-LED), educational and business support grants to undergraduates and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to physically- challenged persons.
The governor also used the occasion to announce increase in bursary for the undergraduate students in Arts to N20,000, while those in the sciences and post-graduate was raised to N30,000.
To mitigate the scourge of unemployment, the explained that his administration has appointed hundreds of youths into strategic positions such as Personal and Special Aides including transition chairmen, vice chairmen and others.
Towards maintenance of peace and political structures across the wards, the governor doled out N310 million support to youths across structures in the 31 local government areas at N10 million per LGA and approved fresh appointment of 3,000 youths into Ibom Community Watch (ICW) scheme.
Also, the governor announced the recruitment and training of 200 youths with monthly transport allowance of N20,000 each and a monthly grant of N50,000 each for 5,000 youths across the state.
“This is the reward for heeding to my plea not to participate in the last #EndBadGovernance protest because these monies would have been used to replace the destroyed properties,” the governor said.