Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, earlier today, attended an international forum and formal launch of Integrated Regional Human Capital Development Strategy Document organised by the National Economic Council ( NEC) in Abuja.

The stakeholders’ engagement, presided over by Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo had in attendance leaders in the public and private sectors across the ECOWAS sub-region, including the Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau, Vice President of ECOWAS Commission among others.

Governor Inuwa was particularly acknowledged as a champion of human capital development, especially for his efforts in tackling the menace of out-of-school children and Almajiri syndrome.

The Nasarawa State Governor, Engr Abdullahi Sule who spoke on behalf of the Nigerian Governors, said ” I am happy my brother Governor Inuwa is here. He is doing wonderfully in addressing the Almajiri and out-of-school children issues in Gombe; and I believe my other colleague- governors too. All of us are committed to human capital development and we identify with this laudable initiative”.

It will be recalled that Gombe government was the first state to key into the federal government’s ARC-P project and other existing social intervention programmes tailored towards finding and implementing local solutions to the menace of out-of-school children.

The Governor while unveiling the ARC-P in Gombe, said the project would also reduce poverty and provide job opportunities to the teeming unemployed youths.

“Addressing this phenomenon will no doubt help to reduce poverty and insecurity as well as address the health, educational and social challenges facing the target group”.

Governor Inuwa Yahaya said his administration will continue to make good use of the opportunities offered by ARC-P to safeguard the rights, welfare and wellbeing of vulnerable children and youths in the state.

Under the programme, Gombe State has so far completed the recruitment and training of 500 youths facilitators across various skills around the 7 pillars of ARC-P.

The government has also engaged the first batch of 500 youths under Gombe State Security, Traffic and Environmental Corps (GoSTEC) trained on different categories in the areas of security, traffic and environmental tasks in close collaboration with statutory security agencies.

Also in demonstration of his government’s commitment to improving living conditions and providing opportunities, especially for the teeming youths, the Governor distributed 1, 000 tricycles otherwise called “Keke NAPEP” to youths drawn from different parts of the state for commercial use.

To accomplish his vision, many programmes capable of improving human capital in the state were launched, data base for teeming unemployed youths created;1,000 persons were already trained on various trades and skills, more than 3000 Development Facilitators employed which is a justification for Governor Inuwa-led administration’s commitment towards human capital development.