National Youth Resolutions on Development is Not Implemented.
By Hannatu Suleiman Abba
AREWA AGENDA – The former Director of Youth Development in Kano State Mal Abdul Muhd Ahmad said national youth policy is designed to guide the stakeholders in the implementation of programs and activities for the youth on specified roles of all concerned right from the government, community, individuals and organizations.
Mal Abdu said this during his presentation on Potential Civil Society Organization on Meaningful Engagement in the Implementation of National Youth Policy, at the August series seminar organized by Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR), in collaboration with the Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Social Vices (YOSPIS) in Kano State.
Mal Abdu said the youth policy involves boosting the economy, education, health status and empowerment of the youth.
The African Youth Charter (2006) defined youth as a “person between the ages of 15 to 35 years,” Similarly, the old NYP (2009) define youth as a citizen aged 18-35 years. While the current policy work based on the Nigerian Demographic statistics defines “youth as a person between the age of 15 to 29. This Policy specifies 29 years as the upper age limit for the chronological definition of youth, he said.
The general youth population specifically identified as the vulnerable are those who are not educated, unemployed or Drop out of school, youth with healthcare challenges, youth in extreme poverty and living in slums and rural areas, and Internally displaced that are exposed to risks.
Read Also:
In addition, The Government should revive the Youth policy in a modernised way such as youth-friendly centres, youth access to health at primary health centres, vocational skills acquisitions centres, building the capacity of at least one million youth in basic, mid level and advanced digital skills, mentorship programs, youth start-ups from already established ICT businesses channel, funding to youth entrepreneurs in the ICT sector through accelerators and incubators.
Also, sustaining the implementation of the N-Power Knowledge, Tech and innovation hubs, encouraging private sector participation to increase the number of ICT hubs based in the Universities and Polytechnic campuses.
The National Information and Communication Technology Fund (NICTF) managed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) should be reenergized to support start-ups with grants for investments and have access to information on youth policy as well, he concluded.
As part of the Seminar Presentation, 4th Session Deputy Minority Whip of the Nigeria Youth Parliament, Comr Ali Wali made his input as the speaker where he contributed that, the youth needs to be proactive in government and seek information in daily activities of Nigeria for them to be inclusive in governance. Nigeria’s population statistics indicate that youth are 35.6 per cent which shows that they are the fulcrum of every societal development.
Inherently the youths are an important cog of the development matrix mere looking at the statistics, this shows a great number and strong tools that can spark an unprecedented change in political trajectory in any democratic agenda.
However, Wali showed his concern about the marginalisation of youth and said they are barred from participation in political space owing to some incomprehensible policies and laws. “This has contributed In Pervasively to corruption that wrought so much distress to the youth in Nigeria, whereby they engage themselves into crime, mass atrocities, ritual, cultism just to be mentioned but few, he added.
He recommended, building the youths’ potentiality to shape their thought on being educated, mentoring, patriotism, volunteering activities, open government and national engagement and Building relationships with the state legislature for leadership skills.
