The minister of youth and sports development, Sunday Dare, has lauded the contribution of Nigerian youths to the growth of the country’s economy through entertainment.
Dare, who spoke at the ongoing 3-day National Youth Conference in Abuja, believed the Nigerian youths have energies required to power the nation, saying it is high time they understood the many processes and procedures that lead to political choices and decisions.
“They need to start appreciating that decisions taken by the government may not necessarily be popular but critical to national security. They need to start understanding why joining and participating in political parties is essential to getting political power. I hope our speakers will make much reference to this, as we proceed,” he stated.
While reaffirming that there are many areas the Youth stand tall, the Sports Minister saluted their exploits in sports, entertainment and the creative industry.
“Our movies and music are the biggest Nigerian export today and we have not even scratched the surface yet. The giant strides of our Youth in the movie industry popularly referred to as Nollywood for instance, has placed Nigeria on the global pedestal, contributing at least $7.2bn to Nigeria’s GDP.
“You already know that our music industry is a runaway success. We have seen collaboration of the likes of Wizkid, Davido with top artistes across the World. We now talk about the soft power of sports, entertainment and creatives. As a Ministry, one of our most important obligations is to initiate programs that will support and create opportunities for the youth of our country,” Dare enthused.
Citing the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) that has provided access to funds to over 6,000 youth MSMEs across the country, the Minister also revealed strategic implementation partners like the EU, IBM, Google, Microsoft amongst others have collaborated with the Ministry to deliver robust and impactful training and support for the youth in diverse digital skill areas.
