FCTA considers bringing back Uniform youth groups in schools

Ukpono Ukpong, Abuja

Disturbed about the increasing rate of social vices among young people in the nation’s capital, the FCT administration has disclosed plans to resuscitate uniform youth organizations in all public and private schools in the territory.

The acting Director, Youth Development Department of the Social Development Secretariat, Hajarat Titilayo Alayande, gave the hint yesterday in Abuja.

Addressing the youth yesterday at the 2019 national camp of the National Association of Uniform Voluntary Youth Organizations in Abuja, Alayande described such a platform as the best instrument to tackle the menace, adding that the measure would help redirect young people to embracing positive ways of life.

“Uniform voluntary youth organizations are in the business of instilling discipline in young people.

We will encourage all young people to belong to the uniform youth organizations they find interesting.

“So, we are going to collaborate with the FCT education secretariat in order to ensure the resuscitation of uniform youth organizations in all public and private schools in the FCT because we feel that it’s the best instrument to reduce social vices among young people.

“It ensures that we have coordinated activities around the uniform youth groups and non -governmental organizations.

And we are still going to encourage them further to establish such activities within their neighbourhoods, so as to support conventional security agencies police our neighbourhoods. We want to imbibe the volunteering spirit especially in the youth.

“We need total re-orientation of the youth, to enable us address issues of drugs abuse, violence, kidnapping killings, cultism and gangsterism; so we want to put them back on track,” she stressed.

Also speaking, acting Secretary of the department, Hajiya Safiya Umar, described the programme as being very significant to the advancement of youth in the FCT and Nigeria at large.

Umar stated that today’s youth haven’t been shown the way to be fully involved in voluntary acgtivities, hence they have continued to look for what to do, which has led to the all social vices in the society.