Deployment of technology will tackle insurgency in N/East – NASENI
Deployment of technology and engineering tools will tackle insurgency in the North- East, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has said.
To this end, the Yobe State University, Damaturu, have agreed to collaborate to deploy technology and engineering tools in the North-East to create jobs for youths, men and women in the areas so as to make their recruitment into insurgency impossible.
Speaking at the weekend in Abuja when the Vice Chancellor of the Yobe State University Prof. Yakubu Muhktar and his team visited the headquarters of NASENI, the Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI Prof Mohammed Sani Haruna said insurgency in North-East has continued largely because of high rate of unemployment of youths, men and women in the areas.
According to him, “the absence of viable economic alternatives for the youths and men in those areas has made them vulnerable to crime” adding that if the mineral resources available in the North East, especially in Yobe state, were harnessed using technology tools available in NASENI, the youths would be gainfully employed and this naturally would turn them away from insurgency activities which advertently expose them to danger”.
‘’An Idle hand is devil’s workshop, the saying goes, therefore the collaboration between NASENI and Yobe State University would see to the training of unemployed youths around the areas in skill acquisition through waste to wealth technologies that are available in NASENI. The intention is to get the youths out of the streets. NASENI will teach the youths, men and women new skills so they can meet their livelihood thereby reducing the tendency to take to crime”.
The NASENI boss further said “Yobe State is blessed with mineral resources and if the state could deploy some of the technologies in NASENI, the youths will be trained on how to use locally developed technologies to harness the resources in the State thereby creating opportunities for gainful employment for themselves.’’
Prof. Haruna explained that the Agency also could intervene in several areas like water project or irrigation through the use of small hydro Kinetic turbine or the solar energy produced by NASENI to generate electricity.
Earlier in his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the Yobe State University, Prof. Muhktar commended NASENI for its several achievements especially the development of engineering and technology infrastructures for the development of the country, saying that if the technologies and human resources available in the Agency were properly harnessed, they could help to transform the country.