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| Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (inset) addressing members of the Youth Empowerment Scheme of Oyo State (YES-O) at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan on Monday. |
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has disclosed that a
total of N3.6 billion is being committed annually to the Youth Empowerment
Scheme of Oyo State (YES-O) by the state government.
The governor made this disclosure at an interactive session
he held with YES-O Cadets numbering about 20,000 at the main bowl of the Lekan
Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan.
He also expressed displeasure at the conduct of some YES-O
officials, saying that his office had been inundated with the report of
harassment and extortion of members of the public by the cadets.
Consequently, he said that cadets engaging in thuggery,
harassment and extortion would be fished out and shown the way out of the
scheme which had been widely applauded as a veritable means of empowering
unemployed youths in the state.
Governor Ajimobi said that he was aware of the clandestine
acts by the opposition in infiltrating the scheme with a view to making use of
some officials to be dealing with innocent members of the public so as to
discredit the scheme.
``I have received several reports of how some of you have
been beating people and carting away their traders’ wares. Let me emphasize
here that YES-O was not set up to be waging war on members of the public. We will
not condone thuggery, harassment and extortion,’’ he said.
The governor also frowned at situations where the cadets
absent themselves from work without any cogent reason, only to collect their
stipends at the end of every month, saying this was unfair.
Governor Ajimobi, who said that the meeting was to review,
re-evaluate and revalidate the programme, said that henceforth, local
government councils would be responsible for the payment of the monthly
stipends of the YES-O officials.
As part of the re-evaluation and revalidation exercise, he
said that all the cadets would be made to undergo interviews in their respective
local government councils upon submission and verification of their credentials.
He also said that government would begin vocational training for
the youths next month in order to make them self-reliant and be useful to
themselves and the society.
The governor, who said that the meeting would henceforth be
organized quarterly, urged them to propagate the politics of development which
his administration signposts, and shun acts that could discredit the scheme.
Ajimobi said that though the scheme was a temporary
palliative as the cadets were expected to be ultimately self reliant through
the various trainings given to them, he, however, stated that fictitious names
of cadets built within the system was principally responsible for the delay in
the payment of their stipends.
In her remarks, Miss Iyabo Adebisi of the Ministry of
Environment, on behalf of the other cadets thanked the governor for the session
and his efforts at rescuing the teeming youth of the state from unemployment.
Other cadets who spoke also thanked the government for its
interest in youth empowerment.
