The group of forty graduating youths sat in rows under the canopy with hope in their eyes. Sitting opposite them in another canopy and talking in low tones were relations, members of the various youth associations around Kaduna town and master trainers who had come to share in the celebration. The occasion was the graduation ceremony of forty youths sponsored by the Vision Trust Foundation (VTF) in various trades under the third phase of its Youth Employment Sponsorship Scheme (YESS), which is one of the projects being implemented by the Kaduna-based non-governmental organisation.

The dignitaries at the occasion which was held at the premises of Citizen Communications, Kaduna last Saturday were all community leaders. The chairman of the occasion was the Sole Administrator of Kaduna North Local Government, ably represented by Alhaji Munir Garba. Others were the traditional leaders of Unguwar Sarki, Unguwar Kanawa and Doka, the communities from where the graduating youths were drawn. They were there to identify with the activities of the VTF and encourage the organisation to expand its project to other underserved communities.

In his welcome address, the chairman of the Foundation, Malam Mohammed Haruna, said it is the responsibility of parents, guardians and community members to contribute to the development of our youth who are the country's future leaders. He lamented the fact that although many youths are waiting on the queue, some trainees under the scheme drop out during their apprenticeship training. He outlined the major objectives of the Foundation, which were to promote education of the youth and provide gainful employment. To achieve these, many activities were being undertaken by the Foundation, of which the Youth Employment Scheme is one.

The Foundation collects donations from its members and also raises funds from donors and philanthropists to provide skills to unemployed youths in communities. Most people do not know that a donation of 10,000 naira could provide working tools for a needy youth and guarantee a source of livelihood to the beneficiary. The community development groups in the various wards are contacted to nominate their members for training in different trades. The trainees are attached to a master trainer as apprentices for a specified period of time which varies according to the trade. On completion of the training, VTF provides them with the necessary plant, equipment and some money to rent a premise from which to practise their trade.

The Foundation has a Programme Manager, Mallam Bashir Mai, who is a volunteer and desk officer who manages the project, liaising with the community associations, the master trainer and checking regularity of trainee attendance to prevent truancy. The youth employment project began in 2003 and has graduated 196 trainees in three phases. The forty youths trained under the third phase of the scheme were funded with a grant of 5.1 million naira from the British High Commission. They included graduates from various trades such as welding, plumbing, carpentry, battery charging, electrical electronics, tailoring and computer hardware maintenance and repairs.

As a founding member, it gave me a sense of fulfilment to present certificates to the female graduates of the project and watching the ray of hope in their eyes humbled me. My mind went back to the establishment of the Foundation. In 1995, a group of us, mainly young professionals known as the Committee of Friends, met to assess the development indices in Northern states. We were very unhappy with the bleak picture that emerged from the exercise. Of particular concern to us was the fact that several Northern states had a huge number of school age children who were not in school. We recalled with nostalgia how the leaders of the old Northern Region, with the little resources at their disposal, invested in education. Today, the country has earned more than what it had ever earned before, but the state of our public schools is pathetic.

Apart from the issue of education and human resources development, we were also concerned about the dearth of visionary, trustworthy and selfless leaders who could be relied upon to harness the region's resources and implement projects that would benefit the people. Some of those who have held important government positions as policy-makers and implementers neglected the priority sectors that are vital for the development of the region such as education, agriculture, health, establishment of industries, provision of basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and roads. While some leaders did make effort to address these concerns, the majority squandered the opportunities they had pursuing self-centred agenda and implementing projects that were poorly conceptualised and benefited only a few people. As a result of this, the states in the region have the most dismal development indices and the highest poverty levels in the country.

The Committee of Friends did not stop at bemoaning the plight of the region, apportioning blame and wringing their hands in helplessness. They decided to take the bull by the horns by establishing an organisation which would serve as a policy forum, promote dialogue on development issues in the Northern states and draw up a blueprint for implementation. Given their resource constraints, they decided to focus on their immediate community. They established the VTF and the main objectives of the Foundation are promotion of education, development of people-centred and sustainable welfare programmes and empowering the underprivileged members of the society.

It organised workshops on education, youth unemployment, politics and leadership, but the first priority project the Foundation developed was the establishment of a model almajiri school where pupils of traditional Qur'anic schools could be provided with both Islamic and modern education without having to go around begging. The sight of Almajirai roaming the streets hungry, tattered and eking out a living in our cities is a constant reminder of our failure to address the education of our children.

All of us attended Islamiyyah or traditional Qur'anic schools, but we also had the benefit of attending formal schools and this has empowered us to be able to contribute our quota to nation-building. Graduates of the traditional Qur'anic schools are not provided with the type of education they need to actualise their full potentials and adequately contribute to nation-building. In other parts of the world, pupils in Qur'anic schools are given quality education, live in decent hostels, have good healthcare facilities and are absorbed into the labour force on completion of their education. We wanted to show the community that it could be done. All that is required is the foresight to conceptualise it, determination and prudent management of resources to sustain it.

VTF acquired a plot of land in Rigasa for building the model almajirci school and consulted curriculum development professionals for advice on an integrated curriculum. Then came the ethno-religious conflicts which broke out in February and May 2000 in Kaduna and that event jolted us into action. The level of violence, loss of lives and destruction of property was shocking. It was the worst since the civil war. Widows and orphans were left distraught and traumatised. The hospitals and the rehabilitation camps were filled with injured people and internally-displaced refugees. Our investigations revealed that unemployed youths played a worrisome role in fuelling the crises. Another effect of the crises was the disruption of social services because the displacement of people crippled basic services that we had always taken for granted in our communities. Clients had to join a long queue for services of vulcanisers, bread disappeared from breakfast tables, plumbers and welders were rare to come by. Ironically, in the midst of all these, we had teeming youths who were unskilled, unemployed and willing to be used as the cannon fodder for social unrest. We knew that such a situation was like sitting on a keg of gunpowder, a perfect recipe for a revolution of the deprived and alienated youths and urban poor.

We quickly went back to the drawing board and decided to keep the almajirci school project on hold in order to address the man-made tragedy that was staring us in the face. We conducted a survey of the widows of the Kaduna crises and orphaned youths in Unguwar Rimi, a ward close to the VTF office. They were consulted on what could be done to relieve their hardship. The women chose different trades and requested that a micro-credit scheme should be established for them. They were empowered to engage in petty trading, small-scale manufacturing and retail selling in order to make a reasonable livelihood. The youth on the other hand chose a motorcycle loan scheme. From that incident, the Foundation made youth employment its major project.

It organised a workshop on Youth Empowerment at Arewa House in 2003 which included an exhibition of various trades. Dignitaries from all walks of life attended the event including former governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi. VTF used the occasion to launch an appeal fund. The sum of 5.8 million naira was raised through pledges, but only 3.31 million naira was finally redeemed. From that donation, 47 beneficiaries acquired skills in the different trades while 100 youths with SSCE results attended a computer application course at Kaduna Polytechnic. A community business centre was established where some of them started their career. They have since moved to better jobs elsewhere. The lesson learnt from the project is the ability to make mileage with little resources, and bringing smiles to people's faces.