The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), High Chief Ikechi Emenike has asked Abia parents not to give up on their children who are delinquent as help is on the way to turn their lives around.
He said that when the APC administration comes on stream in Abia next year he would rehabilitate all delinquent youths through a life-changing programme he would implement to save the delinquents from going down the drain.
Emenike, who was speaking at a stakeholders meeting at Oboro Ikwuano, expressed sadness that some parents after going through the rigours of parenting lose their children to drugs, criminalising and other delinquent behaviours.
He said that with the rehabilitation programme the delinquents would not only be freed from the vices that hold them down but also be encouraged to realise their life ambitions hitherto truncated by delinquency.
The governorship contender noted that the rising number of delinquency among Abia youths was as a result of the “Abia environment” created by bad governance which has been the lot of God’s own state for over two decades.
“Parents should be patient with their children who misbehave because the Abia environment makes it possible for youths to plunge into anti-social behaviours,” he stated.
But he assured parents with delinquent children that he would assist them to reclaim their bad children and turn them around to become very useful.
The APC governorship flag bearer regretted that since the inception of the present democratic dispensation successive administrations in Abia have failed to come up with any agenda for youth development.
He said that he would not allow Abia to be drifting aimlessly like a paper in the wind, adding that he has worked out a holistic programme for sustainable youth development.
According to him, the incoming APC government in Abia would provide opportunities for the young people in the state to develop their talents and become useful to themselves, their families and the society in general.
Emenike, who is development economist, vowed that he would not preside over an administration in which Abia youths would be empowered with motor cycles, tricycles and the likes.
“I will only give meaningful employment to Abia youths,” he said, adding that with the “building blocks of development” that he would set up, employment opportunities would be sustainably created for the teeming youths.
However, the governorship hopeful urged Abia youths and their parents to ensure they get their PVCs and use them next year to give the mandate with which to rescue and develop Abia for benefits of the long-suffering citizens.