VISION THAT SAVED THE POOR AND NEEDY

Jacob Aswe writes that Taraba State Government is rekindling hope with its economic empowerment programme

Three months ago they had no hope, no future, no profession, no recognisable or respectable identity and no income. They were part of the itinerant army of the unemployed and unemployable women and youths that pounded the streets every day in search of something, anything, to do just to eke a living. Last week their story and their status changed. They had become proud sons and daughters of their parents and worthy citizens of Taraba who have not only become self-employed but were hoping to become employers of labour soon. They are the 335 women and youths who on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, graduated from a three-month skills acquisition programme organised by the administration of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku.

On that day, thousands of people poured into the Sports Hall of the Jolly Nyame Stadium in Jalingo to celebrate them. It was several hours of singing and dancing in appreciation of Governor Ishaku, the man whose creativity and large heartedness gave birth to the “anti-poverty pill” that had given the beneficiaries of the government’s economic empowerment programme a new hope and the opportunity of a new positive beginning to the chosen 335. Ishaku who presided over the ceremony also handed out to them free start-up packages that included generators, sewing machines, weaving machines, computers and printers, hair dryers and all other equipment and tools they will require to start their own business.

The journey to March 14, that day of celebration, did not come easy for the beneficiaries. The selection process was rigorous. It had to be so because there were so many people in the crowd of the unemployed in the state. It was co-ordinated by no other person than the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Rebo Usman, a very senior government official, who himself worked under the strict supervision of the Governor. That effort produced the lucky 335 who eventually started and completed the programme. At the graduation ceremony, Ishaku advised the beneficiaries to apply the skills they had acquired properly to create wealth and create jobs. “Your ability to use this opportunity to uplift yourselves economically will determine the success and sustainability of this scheme.”

Job creation and economic empowerment of the people was part of the campaign agenda of Governor Ishaku. He had promised to put the state on the part of sustainable recovery from its many years of crises, neglect and underdevelopment. That also includes ameliorating the level of poverty in the state. Women and youths belong to that critical group of the vulnerable. How that would be achieved was part of the vision which Ishaku came with into office. When he decided to create the body known as the Rescue Agenda and its principal organ also known as the Rescue Watch, not many people knew where Ishaku was headed. Today, these two “father-and-child” agencies have become powerful instruments of service delivery for the administration.

The Rescue Watch it was that co-ordinated the recruitment of participants for the first batch of the skill acquisition programme that graduated recently. Before then, Ishaku wanted to know those critical things that people at the grassroots level in the state earnestly desired from his administration. And it was to the Rescue Watch team he turned to do the job of finding out. Members of the group which include special advisers and special assistants went to work at the grassroots level and came back afterwards with reports that indicated that the desire and desperation for employment was deep-rooted among the people, particularly, women and youths.

That report, as the governor said during the graduation ceremony, informed the decision of government to package a poverty alleviation programme with skills acquisition as its critical ingredient. “Our people’s desperate desire for jobs as expressed in almost every monthly report collated from all our local government areas formed the basis of my decision to carefully put in place the Women and Youths Empowerment programme whose graduates we are celebrating today.” The very rigorous selection process adopted threw up people who really desired the programme. They gave the training all of their time and concentration and at the end they all graduated with skills in tailoring, footwear designing, soap making, wood craft, carpentry, welding, hair dressing, computer services and weaving of traditional clothes such as “kyadzwe” and “Langtan.”

At the venue of the graduation ceremony in Jalingo, many of the products of the new skills they have acquired were on display. They included shoes in all forms of elegant designs, soaps, dresses in all shapes, colours and sizes, furniture, fishing nets and beautifully woven “Kyadzwe” and “Lantang” traditional attires that are very popular among the Jukun people in the state.

Governor Ishaku warned the beneficiaries against abusing government’s generosity through illegal sale of the start-up packs given to them free. The governor observed that though the present programme had been adjudged as the best packaged and best delivered skills acquisition programme in the state, its benefits could fail to manifest if the beneficiaries succumbed to the temptation to abuse it. He warned them against contemplating the evil idea of selling any of the machines and equipment that government had given to them free in order to start their personal business. Governor Ishaku warned: “Any attempt to abuse this gesture of government by any beneficiary of the scheme shall be met with the full wrath of the law.” He said the idea of selling off the equipment given to them free should never be contemplated because there will be no hiding place for any beneficiary. All Ward Contact Persons who serve as the eyes and ears of the government are keeping watch over them and any confirmed case of abuse could land the beneficiary in jail, according to Governor Ishaku.

The skill acquisition programme was executed under the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation with the Rescue Watch as its anchor and supervisor. Those who graduated recently belong to the first batch and Ishaku said at the ceremony that he was encouraged by the success recorded with this present effort and that the packaging of the second in the series will soon commence. The programme is now part of the routine effort of the administration to positive