By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, has pledged to support the youths and wards of Nigerian army personnel in barracks to ensure that they acquire skills that would make them self reliant.
Yahaya made the promise during the graduation of Undergraduate Trainees of Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA) Youth Development Project on Thursday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of 234 barracks youths who are undergraduates in different universities were trained in Information Technology (InfoTech) by NAOWA.
NAN recalls that the NAOWA had on Oct. 4 inaugurated a six-week intensive training in Infotech to cushion the effect of the eight-month strike by university lecturers.
The COAS promised to support all the training programmes of NAOWA aimed at empowering barrack youths with a view to giving them a better future.
He commended NAOWA president for the initiative to train the undergraduate children of army personnel, adding that the wellbeing of the barrack youths was key to the development of the Nigerian army.
He said the next batch of the training would engage school leavers and certificate holders, as well as the out of school children, wards and youth in the barracks.
According to him, the programme is very important and should be continuous to include not only those in school, but even those who are not in school provided they are children and wards of the personnel.
He expressed happiness that the programme had shown that there were talented and intelligent youths in the barrack community.
“That is why I want to encourage the trainees not to relent on the training they have had and these five weeks would have told them that if you are committed and determined you can do anything and you can achieve results.
“You see all the recipients, you see their background, you see their parentage. So if they concentrate and remain committed and dedicated they can excel and be all they want to be.
“With innovation and creativity, you can be your own employer and you don’t necessarily need to add to the long queue of unemployed.
“I want to assure you all that resources will be provided and you will be supported on any initiative that will empower, train and educate our youth in the barracks.
“When you empower the youths, you are supporting the military,” he said.
Yahaya challenged the youths to be of good character and positive representation of the military community in their areas of endaevour. (NAN)