Date: 2015-02-25

In pursuit of the mandate to combat unemployment and its devastating effects on youths, the Kwara State Government has given automatic employment to a family member of late Abubakar Ismail who was shot dead by hoodlums suspected to be cultists in Ilorin recently.

Announcing the employment offer on behalf of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, the Senior Special Assistant  to the Governor on Youth Empowerment, Alhaji Saka Babatunde said that government brought smile to the faces of the family members of the deceased with the employment opportunity because it believed that the best way to support the family was to empower them.

According to Babatunde, “when I visited the family of the deceased to commiserate with them over the loss of one of the children, I was deeply touched after listening to the pathetic story of the deceased mother.

“The woman made me to understand that she has only two sons out of which one was now late and the other is without job. She considered herself as a waste to this generation and that she didn’t know why this unfortunate thing had happened to her.

“That was when I was deeply touched. More so, considering the kind of boss I have, I knew if he was there he would have done better but as his aide and fortunately, I am directly responsible for youth empowerment, so I used that initiative to pledge on behalf of his Excellency to give immediate employment to the only surviving son of the woman,” Babatunde said.

The deceased, who was an electrical electronics graduate of Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State and awaiting his National Youth Service Corps call up letter was shot dead on February 15, this year in front of his house at Agbo-Oba Road, Off Taiwo Road, Ilorin.

Narrating the chilling incident, the beneficiary of the employment offer and the elder brother of the deceased, Abubakar Tahiru said that on that ill-fated day, his late brother was in front of the house playing draft with friends when some boys came around 9:30pm and shot him.

“It was a case of mistaken identity, because when those boys came they were asking of Victor and one of them said he (deceased) was Victor which he denied. Before we knew what was happening, one of the boys shot him and they took to their heels.

“We quickly took him to a nearby hospital and he was confirmed dead by the doctor,” Tahiru said.

Tahiru, however, thanked the government of Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed for the gesture done to his family: “I want to sincerely appreciate this government for its thoughtfulness towards the wellbeing of youths in the state and for empowering me as this will go a long way in alleviating the economic plight of my family.”

Speaking further with The Herald, Babatunde said any responsible government like the one in Kwara State will always want to ensure that the future of the youths are taken care of in terms of job creation and living a life that will make them to actually become the leaders of tomorrow.

“We have a responsibility to continue to re-orientate these youths on what to do and not to do if truly they want to become good leaders of tomorrow. More so, parents should ensure that they monitor their wards every now and then.

“Further to my visit, I preached to the youths in the neighbourhood on the need for them to be peaceful, law abiding and live a modest life as future leaders.

“The election is around the corner, we should know what we are doing. We should be seen as ready for that desired change youths are singing all over the nation today. It is only when we are alive that we can make the change a reality”, he added.

Babatunde, however, described the deceased as a complete gentleman: “From what I learnt, the late Abubakar was a peaceful, God fearing person that would not engage in any unruly act”

Perhaps, the Kwara State government has aggressively addressed youth employment via its state Bridge Empowerment Scheme (KWABES) and of late, the QuickWin Youth Empowerment Scheme.

With the flag-off of QuickWin and the engagement of 5,200 youths, the government has employed 10,200 youths since inception and it has also promised to engage an additional 3,000 before the end of its tenure.

The governor had declared that “I have no doubt that his administration’s Empowerment Scheme will act as an important catalyst in improving the livelihood of youths and create valuable skills to fill existing gaps in the economy, making crime and criminality less attractive options for survival.

No doubt the Ahmed administration is positioned and resolved to turn around the lot of youths by giving them support to become self reliant and independent.