The Kwara State Government has said it will engage 5,200 youths in the first batch of its Quick Win Empowerment programme during a one-week commemoration of the third anniversary of the administration, which kicked off on Friday.

It also said that it had spent about N3.7bn for the renovation, equipping and staffing of five general hospitals in the state.

The Secretary to the Government of Kwara State, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, during a media briefing in Ilorin, the state capital, said the Governor Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed had ensured continuity of government by completing ongoing projects of his predecessor, Dr. Bukola Saraki's as well embarking on new projects. He added that the government recongised the need to address the high rate of unemployment in the nation.

Gold, who is the chairman of the third anniversary committee noted that youths are the generation of the future and the largest component of Nigeria's population and so must be positively engaged for continued peace and progress of the nation.

The third anniversary committee alternate Chairman, Dr. Abubakar Kannaike said the state government was not insensitive to the current plight and security challenges of Nigeria by going ahead to mark the third anniversary inspite of the painful and sad mood of the nation.

He stated that it is worthwhile to mark the Democracy Day and the third anniversary of the current state's regime to show case some of the administration's achievements and to offer hope to the citizens.

"The options we have as a state is to be furlong and be helpless in the situation that Nigeria has found itself. The alternative is to say that we mark the Democracy Day which is the last hope of the common man. There is nothing that can get us out of the doldrums or the sadistic event, deaths and losses the nation had be afflicted with but the supremacy of democracy.

"So we feel that as a state, it is worthwhile to still mark the Democracy Day so that the last hope of the common man in this country is not lost. And to chronicle some of the achievements of this administration that is committed to delivering the dividends of democracy to the people and to also show case one of the primary reasons why we have high rate of unemployment in our country. We are marking the employment of 5,200 youths.

"We are not insensitive to the mood of the nation. It is a seriously scaled down marking of the Democracy Day," Kannaike said.