FCTA empowers 19,850 youths

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) said it has trained and empowered 19,850 indigent youths.

The FCTA Mandate Secretary for Social Development, Hadiza Kabir, disclosed this during the celebration of her one year in office on Tuesday.

She said her secretariat in the last 12 months organised moral rebranding programmes in which youths from across the six area councils of the FCT benefited.

Mrs Kabir stated that over 300 youths were trained and empowered in fish farming and aquaculture within the period under review.

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She also revealed that over 500 youths were trained in technopreneurship to establish small businesses in technology-based fields like solar and computer.

She further said, “13,100 youths were trained in leather works, satellite installation, welding and metal fabrication and ICT; while another 5,500 youths were empowered and given starter packs to jumpstart their trained vocations.”

She also listed other successes recorded in the last one year to include evacuation of over 12,500 beggars from the streets of Abuja, while providing them feeding, psycho-social counselling and repatriation to their respective states of origin to decongest the increasing number of shanties across Abuja.

She added that, “The secretariat has successfully evacuated 4,519 mentally retarded persons with drug- related cases, out of which 502 have successfully been treated and reunited with their loved ones. 273 victims of drug misuse have been rehabilitated through psychosocial therapy, while 81 are currently undergoing rehabilitation at the FCT Vocational Centre, Bwari.”