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KATSINA: EMPOWERING THE YOUTH By Hajiya Bilkisu (mni) The weather was cold and the harmatan wind blew the dust slightly in our faces as we made the turn into the office of the Department of Resource Development in the heart of Katsina city. The group comprised Dr Halima Adamu, the first female medical doctor in Northern Nigeria, now a Board member of the Katsina Education Trust Fund Gidauniyar Katsina, and also the Katsina State Focal Consultant for AdvocacyNigeria a movement working on reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality, Alhaji Sada Mashi, a journalist and a former President of the Katsina State Chapter of Nigeria Union of Journalists, now a proprietor of a printing and public relations firm and his colleague and Principal Partner, Alhaji Garba Gida. We were visiting the office to meet the officer in charge of a youth empowerment programme the government was implementing. The office was wearing a new coat of paint which gave the building a new look and lighted the environment. Dr. Halima Adamu who knows the area quite well asked Alhaji Sada Mashi if it was the building that used to house the Local Government Service Commission. He answered in the affirmative and explained that the Resource Development office now shares it with Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency SMEDAN. He told her that the rehabilitated building was a reflection of things to come. When Alhaji Sada invited me to come and see what the Katsina state government was doing in the youth empowerment sector, he was reticent about it and kept his cards to his chest. He kept saying ki zo kigani akwai haske

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a faninin taimakon matasa meaning come and see there is a light at the end of the tunnel of the youth empowerment sector. Both Dr. Halima and I are interested in youth empowerment projects. She serves on the board of a Kaduna based NGO, the Council for the Rehabilitation of Destitutes and their area of focus is the rehabilitation of almajirai, pupils of makarantar allo the Traditional Quranic School TQS and reformation of the almajirci system that supports it. On my part I am a trustee and founding member of Vision Trust Foundation VTF where we are implementing a Youth Empowerment Sponsorship Scheme YESS and building an almajirci model school in Rigasa, Kaduna. So for both of us it was a study tour and our curiosity and expectations were raised. We were ushered into a moderately furnished and spacious office and the occupant welcomed us and introduced himself as Engineer Musa Nashuni, the Special Assistant to the Katsina State Government on Resource Development. A former mining engineer at the Federal Government owned Mining Corporation of Nigeria in Jos, Engineer Nashuni has twenty years of mining experience. On retirement, he became a consultant in his field. The project was the product of the State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema who said youth empowerment was part of my campaign promise and I consider capacity building as critical to the success of any government. I consider education; agriculture, development of the solid mineral sector of course healthcare, housing etc are inclusive .He mentioned the sixteen areas that his government is focusing on in its development of cottage industries. His dream is to produce a better educated

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community, he dreams of looking back to see that the infrastructure required for the development of the state are in place. Governor Shema said he would be happy and feel fullfiled if and when performance of government impacts on the life of all citizens. To ensure that this happens, he said the state has made a provision to provide interest free credit to the citizens. For those who demonstrate credit worthiness and pay, they are given additional facilities if required. In the political field Governor Shema said he is fighting the siege mentality in politics and promoting consultation and consensus building. For the forthcoming local government elections, he has suggested that all aspiring candidates and stakeholders should meet and agree on the best candidate to be fielded by his party the PDP. He said this initiative has brought hitherto estranged politicians and together at community meetings to discuss what is best for their communities. Engineer Musa said he was implementing the project because he shared Governor Shemas vision for the state particularly the youth empowerment component which he is equipped to help implement . The aim of the project his department is implementing is to empower the youth by providing them with skills and facilities to live a sustainable life. The project is focused on increasing the productive capacity of the youth through manufacturing of paints and chalk. It has three components.

Identification of unemployed youths in a participatory manner

Provision of skills to the beneficiaries

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Provision of credit facilities for procurement of materials and equipment

In his briefing, the Engineer provided the following Information: that the choice of products to be produced was based on needs assessment and sustainability of the venture. The project was designed as a pilot project to be implemented in sixteen states to tap the natural resources that are available in the state. Kaolin, which is the major ingredient for the production of chalk and paint. As for consumer demand for the products, chalk is used in all the schools in the state and every construction project would require paints for aesthetics. Kaolin is abundantly available in all the local governments of Katsina state and this is being tapped for many industrial uses from pharmaceutical to cosmetics and varied uses. There are already requests for the high grade kaolin produced in the state so there are potentials for export. The Engineer explained the selection process for the beneficiaries which is grassroots focused. Community Development Committee CDC were established in all the Local Government Areas LGAs. Each CDC will meet and nominate one person from each ward within the LGAs to be engaged for paint making and chalk production. These youths are given skills in the production of products and are supported with money to procure raw materials and equipment. By the end of 2007, eleven paint and seven chalk production plants had been established in sixteen LGAs across three Senatorial zones. The beneficiaries are the owners of the projects and the Local Governments support them by providing production centers for manufacturing before the beneficiaries go full scale and

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establish on their own. The production equipment use appropriate technology and had rural compliance. For paint production, a drum is used to place the kaolin and the additives and a metal whisk is used to mix it and the finished product is packaged in plastic containers. Five cans of five liter paint is produced in thirty minutes. The paint producers are currently producing emulsion paints which is water based but have plans to embark on production of gloss paint which is oil based. Each twenty litre can of paint is sold for two thousand and four hundred naira but on the open market they are sold at two thousand eight hundred naira. For chalk production, a manual machine is used for rolling the chalk paste made from kaolin and oil lubricant and the moulded chalk is then sun dried and packaged in cartons. On marketing the finished products, the project designers want to retain equilibrium between producers, dealers and retailers; they therefore want regular marketers of paints and chalk to also be the dealers of their own products. However, to support the youth, the state government has directed all those who are executing government projects to use made in Katsina paints and all schools are also to use made in Katsina chalk. We went on a visit to two paint and chalk production plants, two in Katsina city and a paint factory in Mashi community and were amazed at the small space required for production of the two products. The government, according to Engineer Musa plans to expand its youth empowerment projects to provide additional employment to youth and meet the peoples needs. Gravel production and fertilizer blending plants are to be established soon. The basic material for fertiliser is

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kaolin which is readily available in Katsina. We also visited a Youth Empowerment Centre with huge infrastructure and workshop being allocated to all youth empowerment projects in the state. The Centre has identified sixteen areas for development of youth vocational training. They include plumbing, agro allied trades, fashion design, capentary and woodwork, fashion design, metal works, fabrication and welding, ceramic and pottery, auto-mechanic, shoe and leather works, computer repair and GSM repair, air conditioning and refrigeration and each had workshops and offices provided. We talked to the beneficiaries of the project at the paint production plant in Mashi. Abdul Samad Shuaibu Randa is ecstatic about it. It is a source of empowerment for us and beneficial to our communities. We hope to reap immense benefits from this initiative. As we were returning to Katsina from Mashi, Alhaji Sada requested us to visit his Chairman and partner in their consultancy firm, Alhaji M B Yusuf who is also the Chairman of the Local Government Service Board. The Chairman invited his Resident Commissioners and we exchanged pleasantries. He said as citizens of Katsina state, they believed that other states could learn from some of the useful projects being implemented in the state hence their invitation to publicists to spread the word about their vision for the youth. After our visits to the project centres Doctor Halima kept saying I wish we had started these empowerment projects earlier and we wont be where we are now. Our visits went beyond the youth empowerment projects; I went to the House of Assembly with other NGO workers in Katsina on an advocacy visit to the legislators

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on promoting free maternal healthcare for the state. Alhaji Sada had also arranged for me to visit the new Katsina State University and interact with the female students and motivate them. I was delighted with the visits and the report of these interactions will form the topic of our discourse in this column next week.