Government of Osun has enlisted another set of 20,000 youths for engagement in the Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme (OYES).
OYES is one of the flagship Social Intervention programme of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration for youths empowerment. It is a rolling scheme of two years for each of the batches which commenced in 2010.
Speaking with journalists in Osogbo on Friday, the OYES Commandante, Colonel Enibunkun Oyewole (rtd) said the newly enlisted beneficiaries of the scheme would be trained on leadership, social, cultural and economic studies, attitudinal studies and physical training to make a young person holistic.
Oyewole said the youths will be taught not only how to get job placement easily, but how to be enterprising and be independent economically in line with the tenet of hardwork and virtuous character after which they will be deployed into their Local Governments for community service.
He said the training would start on Monday, August 27, in all the Local Governments areas, run for three weeks and end on Friday September 14, which would be followed by the swearing in of the cadet by Governor Aregbesola.
Noting that the selection process was ICT based and gender sensitive with a lot of fairness in it, he said, “It is not only Osun indigenes that are qualified, but all residents of the state regardless of where they come from”.
Noting that the scheme has helped in managing unemployment rate in the state over the years, he said the offshoot of the scheme were the World Bank/ Federal Government’s Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO) and NPower programme that were launched in Abuja.
According to him, over 42,000 youth have benefitted from the scheme, stating that peace, calmness and good behavior have been restored in the lives of jobless youths.
“Over the years, the scheme has transformed the lives of majority of beneficiary youths, as the savings from the N10,000 stipend has grown to something big and make them independent.
“The cadet work for just three hours in a day after which some of them engage in other productive things that can bring in extra income for them”.
“Some of the beneficiaries are now landlords who have built their houses through the money earned from the scheme and grown to something big.
“With savings from their monthly stipend of N10,000 per volunteer, it was shocking to discover how they have turned their meagre income into small and cottage scale businesses with further assistance from their relations”.
According to him, many of the beneficiaries do not have to go through two years of the programme because with OYES management and the programmes in place, “We are able to meet their needs which are that they should be able to get something good to do better than the situation they are”.
The Commandante however stressed that the government is in the process of putting legal framework in place which would be concluded before the expiration of the present administration with a view to sustaining the programme.
