Date: 2016-10-20

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sodique Abubakar, yesterday in Ilorin, Kwara state capital said agriculture remains the only veritable tool in addressing youths unemployment and insecurity in the country.

He said the fedral government's resolve to empower youths through agriculture is a potential for accelerating economic growth and making the result more sustainable.

Abubakar made this known at the official launching of Barracks Youths Empowerment through Agriculture Mobility Command Chapter, held at 203 MAG in Ilorin.

He said the scheme is capable of accelerating economic growth and making the result more sustainable . He added "You will agree with me that the present insecurity in the country is largely caused by youths unemployment be it in the North East or in the Niger delta region of the country.

"Youths have been largely unemployed, and if agriculture is keyed into, you will see that a lot of youths will be involved and as the saying goes that an idle mind is the devil's workshop, when youths are engaged ,they are not idle, they get engaged as they earn money, add value to their lives and the lives of their families."

The Chief of the Air Staff who was represented by the Director Standard and Evaluation of Nigeria Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Saliu Balariba added that, "the empowerment of youths is therefore not luxury, rather it is an untapped potential in the acceleration of Nigeria's economic growth and social development".

Abubakar stressed that, the inauguration that we are witnessing today is the first phase of the programme; training the youths in various agricultural skills will be the next phase which will be followed by empowerment through financial assistance by government agencies.