FCTA Seeks Collaboration With Govt, Private Sector To Empower Youths

Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has called for strong collaboration and partnerships amongst educational institutions, governments, and the private sector to provide necessary resources, mentorship, and funding to nurture skills in Nigerian youth.

The permanent secretary, of FCTA, Mr. Olusade Adesola, who made the call at the celebration of United Nations International Youth Day (IYD) organised yesterday in Abuja by Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA), said internships, apprenticeships, and mentorship programs offer invaluable hands-on experience and guidance, which will enable young people to put their green skills into action.

The world over has set aside August 12 every year to mark International Youth Day in line with the United Nations General Assembly resolution passed in 1965, which seeks to bring to the fore issues that affect young people across the globe, this year’s celebration is tagged,   “Green Skills for Youth: Towards A Sustainable World.”

Adesola said that broadly speaking, the youth are confronted with myriad challenges, ranging from lack of access to quality education, unemployment, drug abuse, non- accessibility to business start-up capital, amongst others.

He said despite these, it was worthy of note that a good number of the youths have stood out in making remarkable and profound contributions in different spheres of human endeavours.

According to the permanent secretary, it is important to bring to attention that the world is currently challenged by the climate change phenomenon, a situation accentuated by widespread deforestation, pollution, depletion of natural resources, etc, with resultant global campaign and advocacy for a transition from a Fossil-fuel-dominated economy to a Green economy.

“The shift towards an environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly world is critical, not only for responding to the global climate crisis but also for the actualization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative and a successful transition towards a greener world which will depend on the development of green skills amongst the world population.

Earlier, the chief executive officer of the AEA, Shehu Abdulkadir, said the shift towards an environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly world is critical, not only for responding to the global climate crisis but also for the actualisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative and a successful transition towards a greener world which will depend on the development of green skills amongst the world population.

He said this guided the Agency in the choices of key speakers and panelists at the occasion to enlighten the youths appropriately, noting that the Agency, established in 2006, aimed at wealth creation and employment generation with a major focus on SMSEs development.