By Augustine Aminu
In a bid to reduce unemployment, poverty rate among the youths, and fast track the socioeconomic development of the
North East subregion, the North East Development Commission (NEDC), has commenced a weeklong training on Efficient Waste Management and Recycling, for 900 youths drawn from six states of the geopolitical zone.
The training, which was held simultaneously in the six states of
Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe, had 150 benefiting youths drawn from each of them, who will be trained on scavenging.
According to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NEDC, Mohammed Goni Alkali, the training was in preparation for the commencement of the NEDC’s Waste to Wealth programme to be unveiled subsequently in each state of the subregion.
The Waste to Wealth Initiative is part of the intervention by the commission to reduce waste dumped in the states and institute the process of turning waste into wealth, thereby creating employment, reducing poverty and save the environment from the health hazards associated with waste disposal in the region
In addition, Alkali, said the Waste to Wealth initiative was conceived against the
background of the high rate of youth
unemployment and poverty in the region.
According to him, NEDC initiated the
training for youths on how best to convert waste to wealth in a bid to improve their socioeconomic lives.
His words, “As a responsive and proactive
organisation, the initiative is aimed at saving the environment from the health
hazards associated with waste disposal and also tap into the countless opportunities in the growing waste market to lift thousands
of youths out of poverty”.
“The programme, which is taking place
simultaneously in all the six states of
Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba
and Yobe, is designed to expose the youths to business opportunities available in the environment by engaging them in wealth creation through the recycling of waste materials into marketable products for society.
Mohammed Alkali added that NEDC has assembled seasoned and experienced experts for the training.
“The experts will impact on the beneficiaries, the needed knowledge and
skills, so as to achieve the desired results of improving their standard of living by generating incomes through materials in the environment,” he said.
He explained that the commission has engaged the services of seasoned consultants, mostly academics from universities and polytechnics and other experts in the recycling business, to deliver the contents of the programme.
The MD assured that at the end of the rigorous training, the trainee scavengers would be given starter packs which includes: waste collection coats, scavenging booths, protective helmets, protective hand gloves and scavenging metal sticks among others.
Alkali added that the NEDC had institutionalised the process of forming trade associations for viable waste collection trade across the North East subregion.
NEDC’s Head of Environment and
Natural Resources, Adamu Lawan told journalists shortly after the flag off of the training in Gombe, that training was for the beneficiaries to be educated on how to identify and separate recyclable waste from solid waste for a gainful venture.
He explained that based on its mandate, NEDC as an interventional and
developmental commission was to look into and identify ways of developing the region.
Recalled that Poverty is the first of the 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, all of which are to be achieved by the year 2030.
The main focus of the goal is to eradicate every form of extreme poverty including the lack of food, clean drinking water, and sanitation.
