From Idris Khalid, Bauchi
Khamzid Charity Foundation has announced plans to empower 100,000 women and youths across Nigeria through vocational training and entrepreneurship development as part of efforts to reduce poverty and promote economic self-reliance.
The initiative, to be implemented under the Tijjaniyya Youth Economic Development Initiative (TYEDI), was unveiled during the inauguration of TYEDI officials and coordinators from the 20 local government areas of Bauchi State at the Dark Real Event Centre, Bauchi.
Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, chairman of the Foundation, Khalil Ibrahim Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, described the initiative as a long-overdue awakening for a community endowed with immense spiritual strength but requiring greater economic empowerment.
He disclosed that 20,000 beneficiaries would be drawn from Bauchi State in the first phase of the programme.
“We are a people rich in faith, discipline and numbers, yet for too long we have been left behind in worldly affairs, not because we lack ability, but because we had not looked beyond nor emphasised the balance between this life and the next,” he said.
According to him, TYEDI was established to bridge that gap by combining spiritual values with practical skills and economic opportunities.
“Our fathers gave us knowledge, character and unity. It falls to us to add to that inheritance the means of livelihood so that our young people are strong in this life as they are rich in the next. A believer whose hand is productive is a believer whose faith is shielded from need,” he added.
He urged beneficiaries to embrace the programme as a responsibility rather than charity.
“Let no youth among us sit idle while opportunity is built around him. And let no one who has been empowered keep the light to himself, for the one who lifts another lifts a whole household,” he said.
Also speaking, Programme Coordinator of the Foundation, Muhammad Abubakar Dahir, said TYEDI aims to equip 100,000 youths with marketable skills while building a network of one million skilled, self-reliant and civically engaged members across the country.
He explained that beneficiaries would receive training in 22 market-driven skills covering agriculture, livestock production, tailoring, computer operations, shoe and bag making, printing, digital and creative enterprises, vocational trades, home production, finance and commerce.
According to him, participants will also receive start-up kits, business support tools, financial grants and continuous mentorship to help them establish sustainable businesses.
“We train a young person, help them start a business, connect them to a network of peers and continue mentoring them until they are established. When you empower one person, you positively affect many others within the community,” Dahir said.
He added that all beneficiaries would undergo a comprehensive verification process down to the ward and polling unit level to ensure transparency and that assistance reaches genuine participants.
Dahir said Bauchi was selected to launch the programme because it is the historical base of the Tijjaniyya community, noting that the model would subsequently be replicated across the North-East, North-West and North-Central geopolitical zones.
He described the newly inaugurated local government coordinators as the backbone of the initiative, urging them to discharge their responsibilities with integrity.
“Each of you now carries the trust of thousands. Through you this promise reaches the wards, villages and homes. Guard that trust with integrity, and history will record that this movement began in your hands,” he said.
The coordinator appealed to governments at all levels, development partners, philanthropists and other stakeholders to support the initiative, describing the region’s youthful population as its greatest untapped asset.
“A generation that is skilled and organised is a generation that builds, not one that waits or can easily be misled. What we are raising here is a firewall against idleness and a foundation for prosperity. It is a gift not only to one community but to the peace and progress of the entire nation,” he said.
Khamzid Charity Foundation is a registered humanitarian and development organisation operating across Northern Nigeria. Through the Tijjaniyya Youth Economic Development Initiative (TYEDI), the Foundation provides vocational skills training, enterprise support, humanitarian assistance and community development programmes.
Participants are drawn from the Tijjaniyya and Tsangaya communities associated with the renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, whose network of schools and learning centres spans all states of the federation.
