Akwa Ibom Governor Umo Eno has commissioned a youth development centre in Ikono Local Government Area, designed to provide young people with access to digital learning, entrepreneurship support, counselling and skills development as the state seeks to prepare them for a changing labour market.
The ARISE Youth Development Centre, located at Ibiaku Ntok Okpo, is conceived as a one-stop facility where youths can acquire practical competencies, explore technology-driven opportunities and develop enterprises capable of generating income and employment.
Commissioning the centre on Friday, Governor Eno, represented by the member representing Oron Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Martins Esin, urged young people to take advantage of the facility rather than wait for conventional employment opportunities.
Eno said the initiative was part of the youth development component of his administration’s ARISE Agenda, stressing that digital competence and entrepreneurial capacity had become increasingly important to economic participation in a knowledge-driven environment.
Esin, who chairs the House Committee on Youth Development, described the centre as an investment in opportunity creation, commending the governor for placing skills acquisition and entrepreneurship at the centre of his youth development strategy.
“What I see this evening is opportunity,” Esin said, urging the beneficiaries to use the facility to build sustainable livelihoods and avoid wasting the opportunities created for them.
The Commissioner for Youth Development, Dr. Ekerette Ekanem, said the centre represents a broader effort to reposition young people for self-reliance and productive engagement. He disclosed that the facility contains a creative hub, counselling unit and multipurpose hall for digital learning and other youth-oriented programmes.
A major feature of the centre is its full digitalisation and solar-power system, which is intended to support continuous operations while providing an environment suitable for technology-based learning, creativity and innovation.
Ikono Local Government Chairman, Otobong Essien, said the project would expand the economic prospects of youths in the area, while traditional leaders, lawmakers and other stakeholders at the event welcomed the intervention and pledged support for initiatives aimed at taking development closer to the grassroots.
According to the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information (MOI), the centre is intended to help move youths beyond dependence and job seeking towards skills-based livelihoods, entrepreneurship and job creation, with its commissioning attracting government officials, lawmakers, traditional rulers, community leaders and youths.
