The Cross River State Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Oden Ewa, has announced a N100 million youth grant for each of the six local council areas in the state’s Central Senatorial District, amounting to N600 million. The announcement was made during the just-concluded tour of the district under the Oden Ewa Central Youths Connect initiative.
Ewa said the initiative is designed to promote youth inclusion, foster purposeful engagement, and support the economic empowerment of young people across the six councils—Boki, Etung, Ikom, Abi, Obubra, and Yakurr. In addition to the grants, he also donated food items, including bags of rice, and provided other forms of financial support to communities visited.
Speaking at various engagements, the Commissioner charged Nigerian youths to support and embrace progressive ideals, which, according to him, are fully represented and demonstrated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) through purposeful governance.
He noted that President Bola Tinubu and Cross River State Governor, Bassey Edet Otu, have made impactful and sustainable contributions to youth development at both national and state levels by investing in programmes and policies that secure the future of young Nigerians.
During his sessions with youths, APC members, and community leaders, Ewa emphasized the need for visionary and value-driven leadership. He said progressive leaders are distinct from what he described as static and retrogressive “push-and-start” leaders, who “lack the zeal, vision, and capacity to create value or provide purposeful leadership,” and only offer “temporary handouts rather than lasting solutions.”
Ewa further stated that “stomach infrastructure” cannot bring about genuine development, urging youths not to settle for less but to align themselves with progressive leaders and the APC, who, he said, continue to prioritize investments in infrastructure and human capital development.
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