The Federal Government on Tuesday launched the Safe Nigeria Initiative, a large-scale youth empowerment and humanitarian skills programme aimed at tackling insecurity by addressing its root socio-economic causes.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the initiative, also known as Youth Empowerment for Peace and Resilience, was unveiled at the National Counter Terrorism Centre – Office of the National Security Adviser (NCTC-ONSA), Abuja.
NAN also reports that the initiative is being coordinated by the NCTC, in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.
Speaking at the launch, the National Coordinator of NCTC, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, said the initiative was designed to complement security operations by investing in prevention, inclusion and opportunity.
Laka said that the programme would empower no fewer than 11,000 vulnerable youths from all the 36 state and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Sustainable peace cannot be achieved through kinetic responses alone. Violent extremism, banditry, kidnapping and organised crime are symptoms of deeper challenges such as poverty, unemployment, trauma and social exclusion.
“The Safe Nigeria Initiative seeks to bridge humanitarian response and national security objectives by equipping at-risk youths with vocational skills, livelihoods support, psychosocial services and civic education,” he said.
Laka added that economically-productive and socially- included youths were far less likely to be recruited into crime or violent extremism, stressing that community resilience remained central to national security.
Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Mrs Delu Yakubu, said the programme aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Yakubu described the initiative as a major shift toward people-centred, non-kinetic security responses that prioritised skills development, economic empowerment and social cohesion.
She said that the programme would provide vocational training, entrepreneurial support, peace-building education and psycho-social care for youths, particularly those in vulnerable and conflict-prone communities.
In his remarks, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Atiku Bagudu, said Nigeria’s youthful population remained one of its greatest strengths.
Bagudu, however, said that the advantage could only be realised through deliberate and sustained investment in skills development.
According to him, skills acquisition is central to addressing unemployment, insecurity and economic competitiveness.
He noted that a more skilled population was not only an economic asset but also a strategic tool for inclusion, resilience and long-term national stability, in line with Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Also, the Director-General, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Abdulateef Shittu, said the initiative was a reflection of a shared understanding that lasting security could not be achieved through force alone, but through prevention, inclusion and opportunity.
Shittu assured of state governments’ support for the implementation of the programme through community engagement and coordination.
He described youth empowerment as not just a social policy priority but a national security imperative requiring a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.(NAN)