By Okodili Ndidi, Abuja
The Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), has appealed to youths to always adopt dialogue to drive home their demands when negotiating with government.
Magashi and his Agriculture and Rural Development counterpart, Muhammad Sabo Nanono, urged the youths to give peace a chance in all their undertakings.
The appeal was made by the Ministers at an all inclusive stakeholders peace meeting organised in Kano at their instance.
The meeting ,according to a statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Defence Minister, Mohammad Abdulkadir, was aimed at “complimenting the efforts of the state government in achieving lasting peace in their domains as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari”.
According to the statement: “The peace building stakeholders parley which came two days after President Muhammadu Buhari’s nationwide broadcast, and after a closed door session with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje at Government House, Kano, focused on the way forward to taking the youths off the streets for useful and peaceful engagements in nation building”.
It added: “In a joint speech read by General Magashi(rtd) , they advised the youths to explore profitability of buying into the various government initiatives targeted at making them key drivers of the Nation’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), while taking ownership of the 75 billion National Youth Investment Fund meant for their upliftment to break away from the shackles and circles of poverty.
“In the same vein, the ministers who charged the youth to be law abiding citizens as future leaders, urged them to seek better understanding of the democratic process for the ease of systematically mainstreaming them in the scheme of things”.
It added: “The Defence Minister seized the opportunity of the platform to render the scorecard of the present administration in tackling the menace of banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling, piracy and Boko Haram insurgents as well as other forms of criminalities in parts of the country through the various Military operations to defend the Nation’s sovereignty which is threatened by the activities of the Non-state actors”.
Kano Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, represented by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Murtala Sule Garu thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the two members of the Federal Executive Council for their commitment to promoting peace in Kano state and admonished the youths to shun fake news capable of threatening National unity and cohesion.
