Dr Abiola Arogundade, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education, with Maj.-Gen. Adeyinka A. Famadewa (retd.), Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security, during a strategic meeting at the State House, Abuja, on Wednesday. Credit: State House
The Presidency on Wednesday says it is expanding its skills acquisition and entrepreneurship training as a non-kinetic way of curbing crime and insecurity, and of creating economic opportunities for young Nigerians.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education, Dr Abiola Arogundade, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday after closed-door talks with the Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security, Maj.-Gen. Adeyinka Famadewa (retd) at the State House, Abuja.
The statement is titled ‘Presidency Expands Skills Acquisition Programmes to Tackle Insecurity.’
The two offices discussed collaboration on economic empowerment, employability and sustainable livelihoods as complements to conventional security operations.
Arogundade said the partnership was meant to give Nigerians skills and “sustainable opportunities for their positive engagement”.
She stated, “This partnership seeks to strengthen cooperation between both offices in empowering our people, broadening their awareness, and creating sustainable opportunities for their positive engagement.
“Through these collective efforts, we aim to steer them away from crime and criminality while fostering a safer, more enlightened, and empowered society.”
Under the plan, her office would seek to reduce the vulnerability of unemployed and poor youths to recruitment by criminal networks that exploit poverty, limited opportunities and social exclusion.
The two aides agreed that security required a comprehensive approach that combined military and law enforcement operations with education, skills development and economic inclusion.
For his part, Famadewa stressed the need for a holistic approach that addresses the socioeconomic drivers of insecurity.
The security tsar said his office was also focused on unified intelligence and surveillance, stronger border security, better identification of threats and effective crisis-reporting protocols.
President Bola Tinubu appointed Famadewa as Special Adviser on Homeland Security on May 11, 2026.
He was Principal General Staff Officer to the National Security Adviser, Major-Gen. Babagana Monguno, from 2015 to 2021, when he led the creation of the Intelligence Fusion Centre.
The Federal Government launched the Safe Nigeria Initiative on February 3 at the National Counter Terrorism Centre in the Office of the National Security Adviser.
It targets at least 11,000 vulnerable youths in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory with vocational skills, livelihood support and civic education.
A 2024 analysis by the IPI Global Observatory said five of the 10 poorest states were in the North-West and described unemployed youths as vulnerable to recruitment by bandits, who offer some of them N5,000.