YES-O, Ajimobi has a jobs plan

THE 20,000 young men and women
gathered at the Liberty Stadium,
Ibadan this last Thursday bubbled
with enthusiasm. Not even the
scorching morning heat of the sun
could dampen the eagerness with
which they rushed to pass through
the security check into the stadium.
For many of them it was their first

day in regular employment. Inside
the stadium, the gathering of fresh
cadets as they were called, huddled
together making a spectacle with the
prescribed white T-shirt on which
was printed YES-O. That is the
acronym of the Youth
Empowerment Scheme for Oyo
State.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s bold
initiative in creating 20,000 new jobs
was for the many young university
and secondary school graduates a
salutary effort in lifting them from
the scourge of unemployment that
many had until this December been
sentenced to.
Ajimobi was as such on target with
his assertion that day that “the YES-
O is projected to give the employed a
sense of belonging,” which he said
would provide a resource base for
the state in other areas of need.
Among those who were gathered to
witness the launch of the Youth
Employment Scheme of Oyo (YES-O)
were politicians, royalty and leading
lights of the government at the state
and local levels.
Personnel
resources
The scheme
according to
officials of the
State
Government is
aimed at
providing a
pool from
which other
personnel
resources for
the state
would be
derived. Each of the 20,000 cadets as
they are dubbed are entitled to an
allowance of N10,000 monthly
irrespective of qualification.
From the pool of 20,000 the state
administration is expected to draw
teachers and other professional
hands that would be drawn into the
state civil service at the appropriate
salary levels based on qualification,
an official of the state
administration disclosed.
The inauguration of the scheme last
Thursday followed days of planning
by a team led by the state’s deputy
Governor, Chief Moses Adeyemo. In
a welcome address at the
inauguration Adeyemo said the
scheme was conceived with five
main objectives, to wit: (a)
Reduction of youth unemployment
through intervention employments
and skill acquisition;
(b) Reduction and elimination of
crime among unemployed youths;
(c) Enhancement of the rapid socio-
economic developments of the State;
(d) Inculcating in the youth the
passion to learn one vocational skill
or the other;
(e) Exposing participants to
opportunities to acquire
entrepreneurship skills.
Remarkably, Adeyemo in his speech
affirmed that the selection of the
20,000 pioneer cadets was
meritorious.
“We discountenanced primordial
sentiments and political party
affiliations in the selection of the
20,000 youths who constitute the
cadet of our YES-O scheme. The
selection process, rigorous and
painstaking, was devoid of bias,
prejudices and personal preferences.
Aware that excellence is the
watchword of this administration,
our committee looked for excellence
in our selection.”
However, the claim that partisan
political considerations were
discountenanced in the recruitment
of the cadets was repeatedly doubted
at the inauguration with the
proclamations of the slogans of ACN,
the ruling party in the state.
Prior to launching the scheme with
a ceremonial cutting of a tape,
Governor Ajimobi who was escorted
to the Liberty Stadium venue by his
wife had given the thrust of his
administration in using it as a
platform to reduce unemployment
and at the same time boosting the
entrepreneurial capacity of youths
in the state.
He said:
Beneficiaries of the Youth
Employment Scheme of Oyo (YES-
O)
“The YES-O is just a minute
spectrum of our youth
empowerment scheme. We intend to
engage the youth of this state in
productive ventures that will take
them away from crime and other
destructive ventures. We do not
want youth to be seen as a curse to
our children but one to be relished
and savoured.”
“The Youth Empowerment Scheme
is our response to the acute
unemployment problem of our
society. It was established as an
avenue for provision of jobs and
training of our youth in cognitive
and entrepreneurial skills that
would in turn make them
productive agents of change in the
state’s economy.”
“The YES-O initiative is divided into
two parts. The first, which is what
we are inaugurating today, has as its
major component, the involvement
of our youth in the area of
environmental sanitation and
beautification, sensitization and
enforcement of traffic rules,
provision of support in emergency
situations in the state, maintenance
of public infrastructure and farming
in the state farm settlement.”
“The second prong of the youth
empowerment scheme will involve
the training of these same youth in
cognitive and entrepreneurial skills,
while those with requisite capacity
would then advance forward in
being made to be given
opportunities in government’s
micro-credit scheme as
entrepreneurs.”
Noting that the success of the
scheme would be a worthy
testimonial of his administration, he
said:
“You are not only ambassadors of
this administration, you are our own
Marines. Like the Marines in
America, you embody and typify all
the good projections of this
administration. We expect that, as
our exports to the rest of the world,
you will be apostles and change
agents that our administration
sermonizes to the whole world.”