CSO seeks to empower youths against crime
By Diana Orouvie-Omueza/Ibironke Ariyo
Youths
Abuja, May 12, 2018 (NAN) Project One Nigerian, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), says its newly launched “Fund the Premium” project aims to train Nigerian youths to be self-reliant and reduce crime in the country.
The Founder of the organisation, Mrs Bisayo Akinnadeju, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
Akinnadeju said the group would collaborate with other stakeholders to empower youths while executing its core mandate of educating Nigerians on political and citizenship responsibilities.
She said that the empowerment programme would start from her home Ondo State and five selected other states for its maiden edition.
“We decided to start with Ondo state which is my home town. I was born and raised there and it’s a thing of joy to render this humanitarian service first to my people.
“It is a sign of love and respect. We would be identifying one person from the 18 local governments in the state; we will train them as well as fund their personal businesses,” she said.
Akinnadeju said that the interventions of Project One Nigerian covers annual conferences, essay and poetry competitions for school students, campaigns and interactions involving the people directly.
She said the goal of the programme was to teach the people self-reliance, and that she expects beneficiaries to take advantage of the programme to be self-reliant.
“We hope that the 18 people will subject themselves to being trained and not just focus on the monetary aspect of getting empowered,’’ the founder of the CSO said.
She said the project was basically about the power of individuals and that the organisation was working towards getting one person to change his or her views and shape their thoughts.
Akinnadeju added that the same method of identifying one person in each local government in Ondo state would be applied in all six states under the pilot programme.
According to her, one of the best ways to educate people not to sell their votes at the coming election was to teach them to be self-reliant, which is one of the organisation’s core values.
“We educate people not to sell their votes during elections but we fail to empower them to be self-reliant. When you teach people to be self-reliant and empower them in any capacity they will not easily sell out in any election,” she said.
Akinnadeju underscored the need for partnerships among CSOs and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in rendering humanitarian services.
Project One Nigerian was established a year ago to support the growth of democracy in Nigeria. (NAN)
DOM/ICA/MUYI/MST
Edited by Muhyideen Jimoh/Muhammad Suleiman Tola