Shehu Bawa Bwari, the Niger state Coordinator of Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative (ATEI), convened Northern Youths Summit in Minna about a fortnight ago. In this interview with AWAAL GATA, he recounts the activities that headlined the summit
How did you feel convening the Northern Youths Summit?
I felt well-honoured by the delegates and a number of our leaders that participated.
How were you able to track Niger state government down to partner ATEI for the summit?
In ATEI, we had trained selected youths from our database from all the Local Government Areas in the state, and the state government saw and appreciated our efforts then partnered with us into moving to the next level. They have now empowered the people we trained and they also sponsored our summit. The whole thing is a pointer to the delegates that came to the summit from other states that we did great and it will be good they emulate us.
The summit was preceded by a youth parley, which probably was first of its kind in the region; why the parley?
The parley was designed to enable the youths and the elders to interact with one another uniquely. At the parley, the youths asked the elders worrying questions and they were answered by the elders convincingly.
What were the issues ‘parleyed’ about at the parley?
The parley was segmented into three panels where experts discussed the issues in question.
The first panel was: ‘our large army of urchins, destitute and unemployed: upstaging the trend and keying into the century’. The second one was: ‘The North and girl-child education’. The third one was: ‘Is Sure-P getting things right?’. This particular panel was meant to have an overview of SURE-P to know whether or not it is making impact on the northern youth.
Were you able to incorporate a considerable percentage of northern youth into the summit? What was the constitution of the delegates?
We invited 12 youth from every northern state. To us, twelve people can represent a people, hence the decision. Apart from the 12 representatives, many individual youth came on their own to witness the ground breaking event.
What were the considerations of the organising committee before choosing the topic of the keynote address?
We sat down and came up with it due to the issues troubling our generation and the future of our younger ones. Now, the justice done to the topic by the keynote speaker would go a long way in putting us in a track that would lead to the promised land.
How many youth have so far been empowered by (Niger chapter) ATEI; on what skills; and what were they empowered with?
We started with 51 in November 2013. The number grew to 300 in January 2014, and now in September 2014, we have added 2500 Youth.
The youth empowered, how were they chosen?
We trained many of them then monitored them using our M&E team and chose the serious ones among them to empower. We empowered them by giving them tools to establish themselves in the skills they were trained on.
As a person firmly engaged in youths empowerment, how would you advise the government to be committed to training youths in skills-acquisition and empowerment?
I feel it is the solution for unemployment and youth restiveness. It has changed the lives of many in Niger state and has reduced the number of people moving around doing nothing. At least a contented and determined youth will see himself or herself being employed and being self-reliant.
Would the summit be an annual affair?
Honestly I wish other states will support our youth in various states to train and empower them, then sponsor such summits for others to share experience of creating an enabling environment for youth just as Niger State government supported us here.
11. What is ATEI currently doing?
The issue here is not just ATEI but what we the youths have decided to do; we have agreed to educate our youth on the need to be self-employed through positive skills acquisition in all states in the northern Nigeria. This is an effort to stop them from engaging in negative societal vices and other troubling engagements.
