By: Mayen Etim
KADUNA, North-West, Nigeria – Executive Vice Chairman, Kaduna State Peace Commission, Saleh Momale, has said the youth are the bedrock and foundation of every society.
He stated this during a tree planting exercise by the youth of Kawo Ward Community in Kawo, Kaduna North Local Government Area to mark the 2022 International Youth Day, (IYD) on Saturday.
Momale averred that any nation that wants to experience a rapid development must consciously prioritize the welfare and education of its youth population.
Represented by the Respondent Manager (Situation Room), Kashim Ibrahim, the Executive Vice Chair added that the future and every meaningful development of any society revolves around the progress and sophistication of the youth population.
While urging the youth to persevere in the pursuit of noble goals and success as the future promised them was now; he commended the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i, for finding many youth in the state worthy for appointment into leadership positions in his administration.
“Today, as the world celebrates IYD, Governments both at Federal, State and Local Councils should look inwards to ensure that policies they pursue with global practices should prioritize the interest of the youth”, he urged.
The event organized by Mercy Corps under it’s Community Initiatives to Promote Peace, (CIPP); and USAID in collaboration with Generations for Peace, (gfp), led the youth to plant trees at the Government Girls College Kawo.
The Interfaith Mediation Center, (IMC) a partner of the event represented by the Data Officer, Reverend Michael Ikpa, urged the youth of the community to continue to preach the message of peace not only for the betterment of their community, Kaduna state and Nigeria but for the world at large.
The Senior Programme Officer, Mercy Corps, Emmanuel Shall, said the whole idea of the tree planting exercise came from the youth of the two communities – Angwan Rimi and Kawo Ward of Kaduna North Council, who were driven by the vision of a community where people prosper and live in harmony with nature and fellow man.
Shall further explained the organizers of the event were committed to strengthening peaceful coexistance in Kaduna state through it’s CIPP project and the world at large, and were proud to boldly support and celebrate the efforts of the youth in the two communities.
While handing over the trees to the youth and traditional leaders present, the Senior Programme Officer tasked them to be accountable for monitoring the maintenance and nurturing of the trees to foster Intergenerational Solidarity between generations to ensure inclusivity which was in line with the IYD’s theme for 2022.
The District Head of Kawo, Alhaji Jubrin, who spoke through the Scribe, Iliyasu Mohammed, commended Mercy Corps, USAID and Generations for Peace for the choice of his community for their project.
He charged the youth to eschew violence, and embrace one another irrespective of our ethno-religious differences; pointing out that Kaduna State yearns for peace as no society attend any meaningful development without peace.
Speaking on the importance of trees and peaceful coexistance, the Ward Head, Isiaku Garba, who represented the Village Head of Kawo Ward, Alhaji Tahir Yahaya, said the importance of tree planting can not be overemphasize since it has been passed from generation to generations.
According to him, tree planting has lots of advantages – people eat from the fruits, sit under the tree and take decisions as usually done particularly by traditional leaders in the community.
“It’s an area where elders gather in the village to take or make decisions for the development of their people, or make reconciliation of any disputes in the community,” he added.
Highlight of the event include the inauguration of a Committee comprised of community leaders, youth, Kaduna State Peace Commission, among others, saddle with monitoring and maintenance of the trees planted in strategic places which serve as symbols of peace in the community.