By Michael Ofulue, Osogbo

The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola at the weekend assured Nigerians, especially youths that President Bola Tinubu is committed to creating jobs through various skills acquisition programmes.

He said the only way for youths to benefit from such programmes are for them to pursue their education career which, according to him, is panacea for development.

Oyetola spoke during 2023 edition of Iragbiji Day celebration where eminent sons and daughters of the town converged to take decision concerning the development of the community.

According to the former governor of Osun State, President Tinubu led Federal Government is determined to ensure that youths empowerment and employment take priority, urging the youths and women to embrace all skills acquisition programmes capable of turning their lives for better .

“I appreciate the monarch for the level of development going on in the town. The king is driving development in this community. You have been an inspiration to many of us.

“I want to commend all the sons and daughters of Iragbiji for their support; it is beyond politics. I thank all the donors to the Iragbiji projects.

“To all the youths please pursue your education career without compromise, put in your best. Please don’t play truancy. There is no constraint to what you can be in life, there may be no job now but with what President Tinubu is doing, jobs will be guaranteed for youths.

“What makes me sad today is that all the efforts put in to ensure that we have a skill centre for our youths have been turned into something else.

“When I was the governor, I facilitated some SDG projects that would assist our youths and women to acquire skills but I am so unhappy that the same project that we fought for to get to this community is now being turned into a base for soccer. I have no quarrel with football but you must use this facility for the purpose it is made.

“The centre is meant for the acquisition of skills for youth. I am going to talk to the government of Osun State today, to please recognise that these projects are put up by Federal Government for the benefit of our youths. You can decide to have your football camp elsewhere but not converting the facility that I fought for when I was the governor to base for camping for footballers, it is very bad and unacceptable”, he added.