The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has pledged to continue to work closely with the youths in the State for its development, growth and progress.
Obaseki gave the assurance when he and his wife, Betsy, were conferred as grand patron and matron of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Edo State Chapter, at the Youth House, in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
Obaseki said, “I am glad that am here to participate with you as this is the first time I will be participating with you to celebrate the International Youths Day. I can assure you that it will be a year with a difference.
“I recognize the impact, energy, talents and creativity of our youths in Edo State. I work with a lot of you and you hold a special place in our hearts and our reforms agenda. We are in government because of you, the youths of Edo State”.
He noted that the priority of his administration is the youths of the State which is why his government is preparing and strengthening the youths to take charge of tomorrow.
The governor continued: “As a government, our priority is the youths, that is why we are spending so much time and money to fix our educational system, and make sure the foundation of the system is very strong. We thank all the administrators that have worked with us to make our educational flagship programme recognized globally as one of the transformative programmes in the world.”
The governor said his administration has continued to work with young people to create jobs in so many areas, adding, “We must work closer with the youth council in designing all the programmes to enable you participate and take charge of all the programmes designed to create jobs for the young people.
“We will continue to invest in human capacity and technology because that is the future that the world is going to.
“I am glad that I am here and now that you have made me your patron, I will work with your chairman to direct the affairs of this council till I leave office because I have seen the potential of this council.
“In terms of the executive of the council, only young people who are currently executives will direct the affairs of the council. We will make sure we limit interference from outside. Government under my watch will invest real time in youths.
“First we are going to secure this property, only those who have to be here will be here. It’s a center for youths not a business center. I will make sure we build a real youths center. I will take the design that was here before, modify it and in this year’s budget, I am putting N2 billion naira to complete this youths center. I will make sure that before I leave office everything we need to rebuild this place is done.
“Within the next 30 days, I am going to connect this property to OSSIOMO Power so that you can have almost 24/7 electricity here. Within the next 30 days I will provide free wifi here. I will secure this place and give all of your members residency ID cards and that is what will give them access to this facility. I will ask Edo jobs to come and create a job center here to enable you interract closely with government to see what we are doing. Some of your executives and volunteers will now work with Edo jobs.”
Obaseki noted that his administration is creating many opportunities for the youths but the youths are not taking advantage of these opportunities.
“This government is for you, you came out to vote for me and have a responsibility to protect you”.
Obaseki added, “I want to apologize over the unfortunate incident that happened with the youths council election. It was done without my authorization and knowledge. As you can see now, the reason why my deputy Governor manipulated your election is because he has political ambition and thought he could control and use the council to achieve his political goals. Please I apologize. Going forward you will have an independent, well organized and well covered transparent election.”
Commending the youths, Edo First Lady said, “You are the one we are looking up to. That is the reason why we are getting involved in your affairs and life and are here to support you. We are expecting great things from you and are confident that you will not disappoint us.”
