The Ogun State Government has continued to take deliberate and measurable steps that place youth empowerment at the centre of its approach to community security, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Hon. Kayode Akinmade, has said.
Akinmade made this known while delivering the keynote address at a one-day Youth Security Summit themed “Youth-Led Strategies for Community Security,” held at the NUT Secretariat, Kuto, Abeokuta.
The summit was organised by the Ogun State Chapter of the Nigeria Youth Organization in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.
According to him, the youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow but the “defenders, innovators, and nation-builders of today.”
Their insight, creativity, and courage, he noted, are central to the peace, safety, and progress of the state. He stressed that insecurity retreats when young people embrace leadership and responsibility, adding that communities become stronger when youths lead with purpose.
Akinmade highlighted several initiatives of the Governor Dapo Abiodun administration aimed at empowering young people and enhancing community security.
These include the training of over 21,000 youths in vocational and digital skills, and the strengthening of the Amotekun Corps through the recruitment of more youthful operatives and improved operational equipment.
He urged young people across the state to play active roles in securing their communities through community intelligence, digital early-warning tools, civic engagement, campus peace-building, and technologyenabled reporting systems.
He said: “The challenges of our time — cybercrime, cultism, drug abuse, highway threats, and emerging community vulnerabilities — demand approaches that combine institutional structures with the insight, creativity, and innovation of our youth.
“Youth-led security strategies do not mean assigning policing duties to young people. Rather, they refer to structured avenues through which youths contribute meaningfully to securing our society — via community intelligence, digital early warning tools, civic influence, campus peacebuilding, social media awareness, neighbourhood vigilance, and tech-enabled reporting.”
Akinmade listed notable achievements such as; raining of over 21,000 youths in vocational and digital skills through OGSTEP and similar programmes, thereby reducing unemployment and strengthening lawful economic pathways;
skills development for more than 31,000 residents through the Ogun State Skills Fund, boosting human capacity and reducing vulnerabilities associated with insecurity, and graduation of the first cohort of Cyber Squad Digital Technicians from Ogun Tech Hub after a three month intensive programme, with plans to scale training to 10,000 young people by 2027.
He also mentioned other interventions of the Abiodun administration, including strengthened community policing, enhanced anti-cultism campaigns in tertiary institutions, expanded counselling and mentorship programmes for at-risk youths, rehabilitation for youths affected by drug abuse, and increased youth enterprise support through local government skills-acquisition centres.
