The Executive Director of Technical Services at the Rural Electrification Agency, Umar Abdullahi, has empowered more than 3,000 youths in Kano State in a new intervention aimed at boosting agriculture, supporting rural development and reducing hardship in local communities. The initiative, launched on Sunday in Kano, forms the first phase of a wider programme designed to encourage self-reliance, improve farming productivity and ease pressure caused by rising unemployment and high input costs affecting many young people in northern Nigeria.
Umar, who is the son of former Kano State governor and immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, unveiled the programme during a large gathering attended by party members, community leaders and beneficiaries. The development was announced in a statement released on Monday in Abuja by Ganduje’s Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, who explained that the gesture comes at a time when input prices and limited opportunities continue to affect farmers across the state.
According to the statement, the empowerment package was shared among youths in all 44 local government areas of Kano State. It included a wide range of agricultural inputs and logistics support designed to enhance self-reliance. The statement read, “The empowerment package, distributed to youths across all the 44 local government areas of the state, include agricultural inputs among others aimed at boosting agriculture to make the beneficiaries self-reliant.”
Speaking at the event, Umar said the programme was driven by his desire to support people across the state, not only those from his constituency. He said, “My passion to help the populace is what prompted me to introduce empowerment schemes, not only for the constituents of Tofa/Dawakin-Tofa, Rimingado federal constituency where I hail from but for people across the state.” He also confirmed that preparations had already started for the next phase. “We have already begun plans for the next phase of this empowerment. This is not the end. Any APC member who did not receive support today should not lose hope, your turn will come,” he said.
Items distributed at the event included tricycles, a mini-truck, fertilizers, herbicides, improved seedlings, solar-powered equipment, irrigation pumps, agro-processing machines and modern farming tools aimed at improving productivity. Umar urged beneficiaries to use the items responsibly and warned against selling them. He credited APC leaders in Kano for inspiring his commitment to public service, saying, “I am inspired to offer this kind gestures by our APC leaders in Kano. Their service to humanity is a source of inspiration to me and many members of our great party.”
Many beneficiaries expressed relief, describing the initiative as timely support. A recipient, Aminu Ahmad, said the fertilizer he received would revive his farm. “Recently, high cost of fertilizer has hindered our farming output. Today we are right to say we have been rescued,” he said. Another beneficiary who received a solar-powered irrigation pump said, “This is the first of its kind. We thank Abba Ganduje and we will repay good with good.”
