Prince Ned Nwoko, the Delta North People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate on Wednesday revealed action plans on how to lift over one million Nigerian youths out of abject poverty and a state of hopelessness which has befallen the nation.
Nwoko, while speaking with journalists, said Nigerian youths are very hard working, creative and intelligent but the dilapidated system of the country has continously dampened their efforts and made it difficult for them to excel as they should.
He pointed out that there is a large number of Nigerian graduates who have dumped their school certificates and ventured into hairdressing, soap making and other manner of businesses to enable them fend for themselves.
Nwoko blamed the social ills prevalent among youths in the society on unemployment orchestrated by government mismanagement of public resources.
He said: “The average young person in Nigeria does not know where the next meal is coming from, hence, some of them get involved in dubious deals just to survive. Whether you call it 419, armed robbery, whatever you choose to call it! They do all that not because they want to do it, but because they want to survive.”
Speaking on his plans on how to lift over one million Nigerian youths out of poverty, the experienced lawyer, who authored the reports that led to Nigeria government’s discontinuation of monthly deductions of states’ allocations and commencement of refunds to states, said, “although I am vying for Delta North senatorial position, my plans for youths are not only limited to Anioma youths but inclusive of all youths across the federation.”
Nwoko said that if elected as Delta North senator, he will pass a bill to empower one million youths every four years, by giving each qualified youth a grant of N50million.
He said: “For you to qualify for this grant, you must be an entrepreneur and must be able to hire at least, additional five youths in your venture. N50million is not a lot of money but if properly invested, it is enough to lift a determined youth out of poverty for life.
“The amount is a good beginning and will encourage youths to remain steadfast in their chosen vocation. The grant will be given every four years. So, in eight years, 2 million qualified youths will receive the grant. When 2 million youths hire at least additional five youths each, that would be 10 million gainfully employed youths at the end of eight years.”
Nwoko, however, stated that for him to be able to actualise this workable plan, he needed to work with people who share similar ideology with him and people he can easily access. Hence, he pointed out the importance of not only supporting him, but also supporting Atiku-Okowa candidacy.
He said that there is need for the youths to vote the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in 2023 elections. He maintained that he needed a cooperative president to bring all his plans to reality.
In his words, “Let’s work with people I can work with. I might have this beautiful ideas which I know is workable, but without a cooperative president, bringing all these to reality will be difficult.
“To be a productive senator, I need to work with people I can easily access. It is very important we do things together.”
Nwoko said he has discussed his plans with Atiku and Okowa, and they have pledged to cooperate with him to actualize the plan if elected.
