FG launches initiative to empower 10,000 youth, women nationwide

The federal government has unveiled an empowerment initiative targeting 10,000 vulnerable youth and women with sustainable income and employment opportunities across the country.

The scheme which was launched on Thursday at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in partnership with Giving to the Needy Mission International (GINMI), is designed to tackle the economic drivers of insecurity while strengthening community resilience against violent extremism

The national coordinator of NCTC, Major General Adamu Laka, said the initiative which reaffirms a strategic national commitment that recognises sustainable security extends beyond kinetic responses and must address the underlying drivers of vulnerability and instability

Laka, represented by the centre’s director of preventing and countering violent extremism, Abimbola Wonosikou, said the initiative reflects a coordinated effort between government and non-state actors to address vulnerability.

He said, “The Livelihood Empowerment Initiative Project is both timely and relevant in this critical period when Nigeria is grappling with the intersection between economic hardship and insecurity across several communities; leading to increased fear, displacement, unemployment, underemployment, and limited access to economic opportunities thereby creating fertile ground for exploitation, particularly by violent extremist and criminal groups.

We are persuaded that by launching and coordinating the implementation of the Livelihood Empowerment Initiative project, we would be doing more than providing livelihoods; we would be de-risking the future of our vulnerable youth and women. We see this initiative as a “soft-approach” strategy to counter-terrorism, replacing vulnerability with capability, and despair with a career.