Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, says Federal Government is determined to equip youths for 21st century challenges as the nation plans to create more job opportunities for them.
The minister’s position was made known in a statement signed by Obiechina Ngozi, the ministry’s Information Officer.
Ngozi stated that the minister made the disclosure when he received delegation of Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), a Non Governmental Organisation on courtesy visit.
He quoted the minister as saying “Nigerian youths are not problematic, but an asset to the nation, as the nation plans to scale
them up and create opportunities for them. Our youths are not yet equipped for the 21st century jobs.
“The Federal Government, through the ministry, is resolutely committed to equip them for the 21st century challenges.
“It is a world of digital technology and the minds of our youths can take all better than the older generation.
“From our research, we found out that the best place to meet our youths is online. So, we came up with Nigeria Online Youth Assembly (NOYA), which is an aggregator website, a one stop shop to connect our youths, to be launched soon.”
Dare said that the ministry has other innovative initiative ideas in the pipeline such as Digital Youth Nigeria.
He added that others were; Work Experience Programme (WEP), where youths would be on three to six months internship
with about 50 corporate firms to gain experience that would make them employable.
He noted that another initiative of the ministry — Digital Literacy, Entrepreneurship, Employment and Leadership (DEEL)
skill would expose youths to many business ventures.
He agreed to partner with the NGO to educate youths to develop their potential.
JAN’s Director, Mr Olaniyi Yusuf, said that the NGO is an international NGO founded in U.S. over a 100 years ago
and operates in more than 20 countries, including Nigeria.
He said that the main purpose of the NGO is to help develop youths within the age bracket of 5-25 years in
financial interest, work readiness and entrepreneurship.
Yusuf was accompanied by Mr Rufai Ladipo and Simisola Nwogugu, who actually started Junior Achievement in Nigeria.
