Youth Engagement: Where Okowa Goofed

By Amos Igbebe
Delta State Government, Wednesday, failed to clarify why it could not engage the six thousand youths it earlier promised to empower at the inception of the five months old administration in the state.
Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, had said that his administration would engage 6000 youths selected from the 25 local government areas of the state, as part of his wealth creation strategy for Deltans.
According to him, the engagement would be executed on a regular six months basis, making a total of 48000 unemployed youths to be engaged within the four year term of his first administration.
But rather than engage the 6000 youths out of the over 60,000 who applied for the programme, the State Chief Job Creation Officer, Professor Eric Eboh, told journalists in a press briefing that 1655 youths had been engaged against the 6000 promised by Governor Okowa.
In the briefing which was attended by the state Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah; Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ernest Ogwezzy and Commissioner for Transport, Vincent Uduagahn, Prof. Eboh said the 6000 jobs promised were realistic undermining the near expiration of the said 6 months.
He told journalists that the target, which was rigorously set by the state executive council, was yielding result as the 1655 youths are already undergoing training in 109 centres across the state.
He listed the various training programmes to include piggery, fishery, poultry, noting that at the completion of the training, the youths would be placed on internship to acquire practical knowledge in their respective enterprises.
Professor Eboh said since the inauguration of the scheme by the state governor, it has continued to implement support packages, which he said, explained the actualization of the prosperity campaign of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.
He said “we’ve distributed cassava stems all over the state. The process will continue until the mandate of the governor is realized”.