Church empowers 92 youths

Churches have been urged to complement the efforts of government in tackling poverty by empowering the teeming unemployed youths with needed skills to transform their lives.

Pastor Charles Obasa of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Lagos Province 12, made this known at the graduation ceremony of the first batch candidates of an Entrepreneurship Development training sponsored by the church and facilitated by the joint effort of Africa Leadership Academy and Central Bank of Nigeria. 

The graduates were 92 in number and were drawn from various parts of Lagos with training on business development, project management, value reorientation, job creation mechanism, networking among others.

According to him, the challenge of insecurity in Nigeria can be effectively tackled with  skill acquisition programmes that are geared toward empowering the hand and brain of the teeming youths to work and earn a decent living.

He said that the ongoing killings, maiming and wanton destruction of lives and properties are partly due to lack of functional education which would have prepared today’s youths to be job creators rather than job seekers in a depressed economy.

Obasa said that it is worrisome that the educational system churn out thousands of graduates without hope of getting a decent job for living and they are left out to commit all forms of criminal activities to survive.

He asserted that the church must not lose sight of its responsibility of giving hope to these youths by exposing them to training programmes that would position them for the emerging job opportunities in Nigeria. 

Obasa, a former management consultant, noted the training was carried out by the corporate social responsibility department of the church which is aimed at giving back to the society.

Although, he noted that the church is not a business organisation that give loan but he said “ the Redeemed Christian church of God will facilitate access to loans for members who have gone through this training from the right quarters”.

He added that the church will continue to drive this vision until we are sure that majority of our people are gainfully employed and affecting their generation positively.

In a remark, one of the recipients of the training, Damola Damilola said “we are happy that the church has positioned us to get information for wealth transfer. We promise to give back to the church and influence our community, family and the nation at large.”