Birninkudu, Jan.30, 2025
Birninkudu local government Chairman, Dr Muhammed Uba, has wiped away political thuggery in the area by empowering 1,000 youths with modern farming skills.
The Chairman stated this in an interview with the Digitaldispatch, to mark 100 days in office since he took over as the Chairman of the council.
He said that the empowerment scheme has provided the agro beneficiaries with skills to explore their potential in commercial agriculture and modern farming techniques.
According to him, “The initiative has drastically reduced unemployment, policy thuggery and drug abuse in the area, because you rarely find youths around the local council waiting to be given a chicken change.”
He expressed satisfaction with the performance of the youths so far for their commitment to the wheat dry season farming in the area.
“When you visit the farm and see the youths engaged in those farms, you will surely realise that we need to commit more youths, to contribute to community development.
“The state government has approved about 100 hectares of farmland for the initiative, yet we are targeting about 500 hectares for rice farming soon,” he stressed.
He said that since inception, his team restored sporting activities also, to positively engage the youths and reduce unemployment.
“We provided sports kits to about 120 football clubs in many parts of the local government, to revive grassroot sports and support the youths,” he revealed.
The Chairman however explained that on inception, they realised that the council’s education sector was faced with shortage of teachers and they offered temporary appointments to about 340 teachers.
Like education he said, the health sector was also in need of personnel and they offered temporary appointments to 206 graduates from health related institutions to fill the gap.
In the 100 days he spent as Chairman he said, he provided support to about 130 Small Medium Enterprises with N30,000 each to boost various trades.
The Council he added, had constructed four mosques within the period and renovated five health posts in the area amongst other things.
Some of the youths who spoke with our Correspondent, commended the Chairman for engaging them positively.
One of them, Muhammad Bashir, said he cannot believe that he was amongst those to benefit from the empowerment.
He said, “We used to spend our days at the secretariat waiting for the Chairman and Counsellors to put something in our pockets so that we can have food.
“They engage us in political activities amd oay us some stipends for our daily welfare but now I have enough and even give others who do not have,” he said.
Another beneficiary, Musa Alkassim, also explained that with the empowerment, they realised their potentials and regretted why they didn’t venture into farming earlier.
They commended the Chairman for the initiative and the privilege, saying that “only a father can give them that opportunity.”
By Aisha Ahmed
Dutse
