For too long, “youth empowerment” in Abia State meant one thing: share keke tricycles, hand out a few political appointments, pay peanuts, and call it a day.
The result was predictable. Young people became mobile, but not productive. They were visible during elections, and redundant after. Society got traffic, not transformation.
That era is over.
Under Governor Alex Otti, Abia has made a decisive shift — from handouts to human capital. At the centre of this shift is the Abia State Leadership Academy (ASLA), a programme that treats young people not as political errand boys, but as the engine room of the state’s future.
What is the Abia Leadership Academy?
