Awka – The Anambra government has called for partnership with stakeholders to design a master plan for youth development in the state.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth Mobilisation, Mr Tony Uche-Ezekwelu, said at a one-day sensitisation workshop against human and drug trafficking in Awka on Wednesday that the partnership was targeted at curbing some vices.
Uche-Ezekwelu listed the vices as the menace of prostitution, human and drug trafficking and the senseless urge to travel abroad for greener pastures among youths.
“The government is partnering with various non-governmental organisations, security agencies, the civil society and other rights groups to curb these menaces,” he said.
He said that Gov. Willie Obiano was youth-friendly and had already appointed more than 40 youths in key sectors of the state.
Also, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Hassan Karma, said that the command was working to fight child trafficking and drug-related cases, which was rampant in the state.
Karma, who was represented by the Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr Ali Okechukwu, advised youths to be mindful of friends who might talk them into drugs, cultism and other social vices.
He urged youths to develop their skills and talents positively, and contribute to the development of the country.
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In a lecture, Ms Hope Okoye, the Executive Director of Integrated Anti-Human Trafficking and Community Development Initiative (Intercom Africa), a non-governmental organisation, charged youths to look within for greener pastures.
Okoye expressed concern about the “modern day slavery where people are traded as commodities in the name of smuggling of migrants and human trafficking especially in the South East”.
“There is no money or gold on the streets of Europe; the money you mobilise to travel could get you established in this country,” Okoye said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by Genius Exist, a non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Youth Mobilisation.
The workshop tagged “Why I pulled down my pants,” was organised for selected secondary school students in the state.
The founder of Genius Exist, Mr Iheanyi Amaraizu, explained that the seminar was organised to sensitise youths against pre-marital sex, drug trafficking and other social vices for a better society. (NAN)