Bwari tops youth unemployment data in FCT – Survey
Bwari Area Council has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with 73 percent of respondents in the council saying they were out of work, a new survey has found.
The household survey, conducted by the Mai Jagora Peace and Development Initiative with support from the MacArthur Foundation through the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), had a sample size of 2,816 respondents across the six area councils.
According to the findings, Kuje Area Council recorded the second-highest rate, with 69 percent of respondents reporting that they were unemployed, followed by Kwali with 54 percent, Gwagwalada with 52 percent and Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) with 47 percent.
The survey also covered the Abaji Area Council, with the findings highlighting what the organisation described as significant vulnerabilities among youths and indigenous residents across the territory.
In a statement, the Chief Executive Officer of the Mai Jagora Peace and Development Initiative, Muntasir Jibril Mohammed, said the research was conducted as part of the organisation’s efforts to establish an evidence-based platform for employment and empowerment opportunities.
He said the initiative had established the Abuja Indigenes Association for Skill Development and Empowerment as an institutional vehicle to track workforce development and promote sustainable community advancement.
Mohammed said the presentation of the findings brought together community leaders, coordinators and youth stakeholders to examine what he described as decades of marginalisation of FCT indigenous communities.
“Since the relocation of the nation’s capital from Lagos to Abuja, indigenous communities have borne the disproportionate cost of national development. Despite profound sacrifices, successive governments have failed to honour core commitments made during the capital’s planning stages,” he said.
The survey identified resettlement challenges, political exclusion, cultural erosion and economic disenfranchisement among the major challenges confronting indigenous residents of the territory.
It also highlighted the vulnerabilities of out-of-school youths across wards in Abaji, AMAC, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali Area Councils.
Mohammed said the findings would provide empirical evidence for targeted interventions in economic empowerment, rights advocacy and inclusive governance.
He called on federal government agencies, international development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to partner with the platform to address the challenges confronting FCT’s original inhabitants.
“Through continued partnership with esteemed bodies like CHRICED and the MacArthur Foundation, the organisation remains steadfast in its mission to build a future where the original inhabitants of Abuja thrive economically, politically and culturally in the land of their ancestors,” he said.
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