Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has expressed delight that youths of the state have keyed into the vision of his administration by availing themselves of skills acquisition opportunities to make them self-reliant.
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Governor Diri stated this on Wednesday during the closing ceremony of a three-day leadership and entrepreneurship training for youths at the DSP Alamieyesiegha Banquet Hall, Yenagoa.
The training tagged, “Building the Bayelsa Youth for Leadership” was organised by the state government in collaboration with the Prosperity Youth Coalition and GOTNI Leadership Centre.
The governor, who stressed that the days of stereotyping Bayelsa youths as militants, lazy and touts were over, noted that by their recent conduct, they have shown that they can stand out in any field of human endeavour.
He said his first tenure focused on developing the needed manpower through the building and equipping of technical and vocational colleges to redirect the focus from certificate qualifications to vocational skills.
Governor Diri advised the participants to put the knowledge acquired to use and avoid the temptation of squandering whatever they get as starter packs.
The Bayelsa helmsman commended the Prosperity Youth Coalition for organising the programme and urged the youths not to engage in criminality due to the prevailing economic hardship in the country just as he expressed the optimism that the federal government would implement the right policies to alleviate the suffering in the land.
He said: “For me, there can be nothing as heartwarming as seeing our youths in the classroom seeking knowledge. I believe that they are all keying into the prosperity mantra.
“I appreciate you for showing the country and the world who Bayelsa youths truly are and not what they think about you. In times past, people looked at Bayelsa youths as being good at militancy, that they do not want to work and that they preferred to bother multinational oil companies for peanuts. But, today, our youths are telling the world that that is not who they are.
“We can build all the roads and all the bridges but if the human beings are not developed, who will use the infrastructure we build? That is why our government is more of manpower development. That is why we decided that it is enough for certificate education only. What we need are skills.
“We are building science and technical colleges and equipping them. Our model of science and technical colleges is unbeatable. So that our young people will become employers of labour and not going to look for jobs. You must be handy with these tools.”
Earlier, Director General of the BYC, Comrade Doubara Kumokou, thanked Governor Diri for providing the platform to equip the youths with skills to enable them become self-dependent.
He said the 425 participants were selected from the eight local government areas, including non-indigenes and trader groups.
In his remarks, the lead resource person and leadership development consultant, Dr. Linus Okorie, commended the governor for the initiative, urging other states that want to build the capacity of their youths to adopt the Bayelsa model.
The event was attended by Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abraham Ingobere, member representing Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency, Hon. Oforji Oboku and other state legislators.
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