But Wasiu Alabi, a 17-year-old boy who lived at the Ikeja Cantonment is not lucky to be alive to narrate his ordeal. He died during a robbery operation. His problem began after the bomb blast that occurred at the cantonment on January 27, 2002. His parents lost all their property in the disaster. After that, his father, was retired at the age of 63. The situation became so bad that his parents could no longer cater for the needs of the family. In order to make ends meet, Alabi, the second child in a family of five, joined a gang of robbers known as "One chance." He was arrested and detained on about three occasions by the police. On the last occasion, he was eventually beaten to death. That was in 2003.

Yakubu and Alabi are just a few cases of barracks youths that have suffered neglect with some dying in the process. These cases informed the founding of the Army Barracks Youth Foundation, ABYF, a non-profit organisation with interest in education, youth and leadership development. The foundation has as its main aim the inculcation of high sense of responsibility and virtue of self-reliance among the youths in particular. The foundation wants to change the negative perception currently held about barracks youths and transform them into better Nigerians. For this dream to be achieved the ABYF intends to work in conjunction with the United Nations, corporate organisations, state, local and federal governments to execute projects and programmes that would benefit the youths.

part of the programmes was a workshop recently organised by the foundation. The workshop tagged "Think and Act Positively," was held at Ikeja Cantonment with experts from various fields in attendance. The experts who incidentally grew up in the barracks addressed the youths on how to plan their future and avoid crime.

McDonald Otoba, president of ABYF, told Newswatch that the foundation was established to encourage and seek for admission, sponsorship, jobs, training and business deals for members who are qualified, and stand for them as guarantors when the need arises.

He explained that in spite of the vital role played by the military, the federal government has neglected children of soldiers. "Our aim is to make the barracks youths economically empowered which will bring the best out of them. We want to see more millionaires with ideas that can rule the world coming from the barracks and we strongly believe that if we should think before we act, we shall succeed faster than acting before we think," Otoba said.

In order to actualise this, Otoba said ABYF was looking forward to President Umaru Yar’adua who officially inaugurated the foundation on July 10, 2008 and pledged to support them. "But before then, we have been reaching out to individuals and corporate organisations to solicit their support. We have given some people the opportunity to have free computer training because we believe that once they have access to information, they could easily get what they want. We have been talking to the youths trying to see how we can change their mindset about life because most of them are the children of those in the low cadre in the army and we are trying to put in place workshops that would be beneficial to them," he said.

Kingsley Umoh, a lieutenant colonel from the army public relations directorate, applauded what the organisation is doing. "It is a wonderful idea and should be encouraged by all. The youths in the barracks seem to be a neglected set of people not withstanding the fact that their fathers are soldiers and they are Nigerian children. So what ABYF is doing is an idea whose time has come and we should try to make sure we get to where we are going," he said.

Ejimeh Francis, a banker, also commended the effort of the foundation. "I appreciate what they are doing. I am happy to see young people from the barracks do this because the quality of the youths would determine what happens in the society in future," he said.

Bridget Olotu, chief executive officer, of DeAim Innovative Resources Limited, a management consultancy outfit that is also into capacity building, commended the effort of the group for taking the youth problem in the barracks upon themselves. She said she was in support of what the organisation was doing because Nigeria is "a purpose-driven nation." "If you want to change a poor person to someone economically balanced, you have to begin to think of the solutions to the problems around him and answer to questions bothering him. So they should stop talking about problems but think about the solutions to those problems and work towards solving them," she said.

Gbemisola Aduroja, a 15-year-old SSII student of Lagos Comprehensive College, Maryland and a member of the foundation, said she was in support of what ABYF was doing because the poor image of the barracks youths was on the verge of being corrected. "My daddy paid for the form for me last December and ever since, it has been fun because I have been opportuned to learn new things different from what we are taught in school. I have had computer training and have been given the opportunity to speak publicly to my peer group on some issues," she said.

The ABYF, a non-profitable organisation, was officially launched in July 2008. The foundation with more than 5,000 youths in various barracks in Lagos State is essentially meant for the children of army personnel that are living in the ba rracks.

Additional report by Ademola Amubioya.