The minister gave assurance, yesterday, during the 2022 Africa/National Youth Day celebration in Abuja with the theme: “Breaking Barriers to Meaningful Participation and Inclusion in Advocacy”. The conference was organised by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, in collaboration with private sector partners.
He said the challenge of youth bulge across the African continent has made it imperative for governments to do more for youth development and empowerment, citing the various empowerment programmes and the ‘Not too Young To Run’ Bill assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari as part of measures that has enhanced economic and political inclusion for Nigeria’s teeming youth.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, permit me at this juncture to reiterate government’s unflinching resolve to passionately address youth-related issues with the aim of placing Nigerian youths on the path of career development, entrepreneurship, skills acquisition and direct employment through such lofty programmes as the National Youth Investment Fund, an initiative that allows youths to bring up creative ideas that government supports with small loans. That way, many have started doing small businesses instead of waiting for white collar jobs.
“The N-power programme, an integral part of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which has empowered and upskilled over 1m youth, is regarded as the most ambitious social protection programme in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Closely following that is the N75bn National Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), the very first of its kind in our country, approved by the President, two years ago, which has provided credit to over 20,000 young people with the numbers being scaled up to over 31,000 shortly.
“With these NYIF beneficiaries receiving between N250,000 to N3m, the government is investing in their ideas, investing in their small, micro and medium enterprises which will turn them into creators of wealth, employers of labour and also those that can contribute to the GDP of our country.
“But also, we must speak to the political will. Almost three years ago, President Buhari signed the ‘Not too Young To Run’ Bill. That Bill, now an Act of the National Assembly, strikes at the heart of inclusivity at the political level. In about three years, we have seen the number of our youth in elective offices from the local to national level on the rise. We believe that our youth must tap into this opportunity as we move into another election year to become part of the process,” Dare stated.
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