 The federal government has suspended the empire program indefinitely. This was disclosed by Bertha Edu, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation. According to her, the suspension was a result of some irregularities observed within the scheme and noted that an investigation will be launched into our funds where it is suspended since the beginning of the program. There was also a promise from the federal government never to owe again noting that this restructuring and transformation will birth an expanded program to reach beneficiaries aged 18 to 40. The previous age limit was 35. The new program would be targeting 5 million beneficiaries in five years at a pace of 1 million per year under the graduate and non-graduate streams. The empire program was launched by president Muamadubuwari's administration to tackle youth unemployment and help increase social development. Joining me to discuss this is Afolabi Imokwidi, CEO Investments Ltd. Former senior special assistant to the president on job creation. And if I have the privilege of saying it, I always probably call him the father of empire. I know it was much more of his ideation translated into policy. Afolabi, good to see you, good. Hello. Thank you, thank you so much. Okay, I can hear you now. Afolabi is actually in transit somewhere. We want airport somewhere to run to Canada, but you know what, I gotcha, gotcha as they usually say. Afolabi, it's not going to be funny. I guess somebody like you may be called upon to also give account of how empire was implemented. Junior Yaira, given what the minister just stated, I would want to respond to that. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me, I think since this last interview all five countries have had to go to this message with great attention. Although, what they need to understand that government is a continent, how do we initiate this kind of empire administration between the 2020 and 2019, which are now established in the 2020, precisely the kind of which used to be in the presidency. Although, they are going to use many industries and they have the formables that supervise all the sites. And so, unfortunately, during the 2020, we were highly not managed or speak to anything that came out of any of our schools. And that, although it was broken up, there would be a hundred of them, but we had to process it. And I'm sure now, they will also be able to do this presidential program along with so I do know what they are going to do. But at the very point in time of the code of environment, we would speak to the fact, speak to numbers and speak to what we need for our future future. So, you are pretty much expecting their call at any time for accountability. That's part of democracy anyway. Exactly. But I don't quite know that. We don't know the code. I imagine that my successor's office between 2020 and 2023 would perhaps need to explain better to the prime minister. And at my point, we handled that. So, I imagine that people that can go just at any point of their speech, what we did. Afalabi? I wouldn't want to say I was... I wouldn't want to... Okay, let me put it this way. I felt I knew how you, in some respects, you were quite instrumental to the idea that ultimately became empire. What inspired it? What pushed you to it? What made you think about it? And we didn't get... We subsequently get further questions to the implementation. But what inspired it? Yup. So, we actually feel that Nigeria has been played and has worked and joined its groups. We really have a GDP which is used to represent our own work on economy growth. But then, our GDP was indeed growing. I'd like to talk about about 2015. So, our GDP grew in many ways. At the same time, this was also an era that was called the kind of oil-fired boom. You know, 2011, 2013, of course we started having the GDP in 2014, 2015. But the point is, even in the time of our idea, our group was not resorging in jobs. So, we started to train with job-based groups. And that's what we did. I was brought in at that time to study how to try to really understand what is the project, why. But having jobs, trying to do things, we did do at that time. Because we joined Nigeria and we liked markets. And I found that economy was there to be jobs. So, you know, our economy was also part of the production to come together. Land, labor, capital, entrepreneurship. And so, all of these factors were there to create jobs. And so, if you are having a solution where you are now in jobs, you need to understand what we are doing. So, we went into national job creation strategies and documented 2016, March 2016 precisely at that time. And what we did was to look at those various sectors of the economy. And look at the sectors that we felt would give us a large number of jobs for which construction was a great program. ICT technology was one and there was a look at retail trade also retail trade. And might be we knew that there was many other sectors that were potential sectors like the society sector, the mining sector and a few others like that non-oil and these sectors or non-oil sectors. But the goal was in a short time what would we do in the sectors to create the jobs. So, what we then did during that study was we found across each of these sectors if you look at the sectors that are better popular of the building across each of the sectors and skills, relevant skills and acquisitions and skills the legal quality of skills was a cross cutting talent across each and every one of the sectors. So, we needed to begin to look at how do we address that issue in the short retail and for them we also understood that the fact that you you train people for the jobs because not people the jobs are to be created so meaning therefore that we needed to engage in a type of work integration having the industry having the industry in the front end so we called it in my life industry program the industry sectors were in the front and the skills training was done in the back end of the type of recovery situation and the goal therefore once you finish once you get done the graduates in the markets so this is the last one and the end part OK Afalabi I must confess at this juncture to my public that I've known Afalabi since the days when we were old and fought for the skills empowerment of young Nigerians about 9, 10, 11 years ago and when he started you know when he was invited to join the government as a result of the presentation he did to the newly elected administration of Bwari then and when he was ideating the empower two of the training schools that I envisioned and that I run I have a training school that I'm a part owner of automotive mechatronics and one in building and construction we actually worked with them initially but at some point especially after the election of President Muhammad Bwari and the political minders put their fingers to it you got disillusioned some of us who wanted to do it the right way also got disillusioned I remember you flew to Lagos one day and came to my office and said I'm going to work away from this I was even telling you some of the some of the words he used you should be very, very careful because they could see you as the enemy of the government but eventually you resigned so what instructed the disillusionment why the disillusionment so I think the the point will be the what so I think like I said we got into this particular finding what we did to them which is one of my thoughts the last step impact was not created because we never the President Bwari to do that the government had the deep research I'm just like any other government you spend your way and so we made decisions so it's one of those ways and we really needed the ways that you know and then you also mentioned so that's one of those things where they go and the time when they believe and then people read so before we had a look we had a 500% we had called the value the first 100% in one value scale and I'm glad you mentioned your growth in industry with all the limits and the idea of the construction the point for me is we wanted a situation where these young people not only get trained but they get absorbed and you know the value change if you remember what you also have done at that time we had trained our technicians for only a type of property and we became the store manager for the automatic repair and service in the industry for the stations that was the kind of wonder now AFOLABI AFOLABI I guess I must have done myself the greatest dictator of a program like this is time and is unfortunate We may have to do this again at some point. I'm really very grateful that you took time off connecting the flight. I will do it again. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Today we start a new segment. It's going to be a very short segment but every day we will have the story of how Nigeria came about. The 500 years that led to Nigeria and the 63 years that we have lived. Places, personalities and major projects and today we start with this. Today's story about River Niger. The name Nega originates from the Latin word Nega meaning black which some said was applied to the river due to some parts of its waters that is muddy and dark colored. The river became widely known as River Niger during the colonial era which came into being after the 1885 Berlin conference that is traditionalized colonialism in West Africa or the River Niger and the river Congo areas of Africa. Nigeria was named after the river Niger as it is one of the major geographical features that played a significant role in the country's history, economy and culture. The name Nigeria was suggested by a British journalist Flora Shaw, the trophy wife of one of the first generation British colonial administrators Lord Frederick Lugard. And it was officially adopted in 1914 when the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectories with the colony of Lagos took place. It must be stated that I bet the ethnographical aperture of the long winding river this back to millennia, the 18th and 19th century explorers of River Niger enriched us with the literary accounts of the scars and cast. Mongol Park 1771 to 1806, Scottish explorer who made two expeditions to West Africa including a journey along the Niger River in search of the source of the river. His travels provided important insights into the geography and people of the region. Hugh Clapton 1788 to 1827, Scottish explorer who made two major expeditions to West Africa and traveled extensively in the region including the area around the Niger River. Clapton, along with his team, reached Sokoto, a major city along the Niger, making important observations about the kingdom and its people. Richard Lander 1804 to 1834, British explorer and assistant to Clapton on a second exploratory journey that led to his Clapton's death in Sokoto. Hugh, along with his brother John Lander completed the journey down the Niger River started by Mongol Park. They were the first Europeans to successfully navigate the entire length of the river and brought back valuable information about the region. Henrych Bath 1821 to 1865, German explorer and scholar who embarked on a five-year journey across West Africa including an exploration of Niger River region. His detailed observations and writings greatly expanded the understanding of the region's geography, culture and history. Alexander Gordon Lang 1793 to 1826, Scottish explorer who made an ill-fated attempt to reach the city of Timbuktu in present-day Mali by following the course of the Niger River. He faced numerous challenges and was ultimately killed during his journey but his efforts contributed to the growing knowledge of river Niger and its surrounding areas. These explorers played crucial roles in mapping, documenting and advancing knowledge about river Niger and the regions he flows through. John Newton 1823 to 1895, British explorer who embarked on a journey to explore the Niger River and its surrounding territories. Newton conducted geographical surveys and documented his observations of the region's flora, fauna and societies. River Niger is one of the major rivers, the far longest after rivers Nile and Congo in Africa. It holds great significance for Nigeria. The source of river Niger can be traced to the Guinea Islands located in southern Guinea, south eastern Guinea. From the source, the river runs its way through Mali, Niger, Benin Republic and Nigeria, finally reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria's Niger Delta. The river has a total length of approximately 4,180 km, 2,700 miles. As river Niger flows through different regions, countries and nationalities in West Africa in general and Nigeria in particular, it is referred to by several names. In the Ausa speaking areas, it flows through, it is known as quora or quora, which is the name of the large river state of quora. To solidify its Ausa full and indominated traditional leadership and majority Islamic religion. In the Ausa speaking ocean state, it is called Oya or the Oya. In parts of Kogi state, the river is called Egera or Eba. In the Ego speaking and Ambra state, it assumes the name Orimeli or Oshimeli. Finally, as it reaches the Niger Delta in the Delta state, it is called Fokados River. River Niger plays a crucial role in the socio-economic life of Nigeria, transportation. River Niger sounds as a navigable waterway providing a means of transportation for people and goods. Water supply. The river is a vital source of fresh water for irrigation, domestic use and industrial activities. Hydroelectric power. Nigeria harnesses the power generated by the river through hydroelectric dams such as kanji and jeba dams. Fishing and aquatic resources. River Niger supports a thriving fishing industry providing a source of food and income for many communities. Cultural and tourism value. River Niger is imbued with cultural significance and plays a role in traditional practices and celebrations of local communities. One prominent one is the, it also attracts tourists and appreciates its scenic beauty. Cultural religious values and natural wonders. And that is it on the show tonight. I am Bola Oba. Have a good night.