President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, affirmed his administration’s resolve to equip Nigerian youths with the requisite skills to compete effectively as key players on the global stage.
He listed areas the government intends to train the young population to include world-class training in digital literacy, technical skills, entrepreneurship, and the creative industries, even as he pointed out that the success of a nation becomes realistic “when its children go to bed guaranteed of their place in the changing world.”
The President, who spoke when he officially launched the Nigerian Youth Academy (NiYA) in Abuja, noted that as a peculiar nation with a median age of 17 years, Nigeria was one of the youngest populations in the world.
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Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President observed that such peculiarity was an invitation to rise to the challenge of the country’s projection to be the third-largest in the world by 2050, with an overwhelming majority of its citizens under the age of 21.
NiYA, according to Tinubu, would focus on three critical areas namely education and skills development, economic empowerment, and leadership and civic engagement.
He explained that the initiative was a response to Nigeria’s low human capital index ranking, unemployment and other barriers to the nation’s progress, assuring that within the next two years, the academy “will train and empower millions of young Nigerians.”
Noting that the security of the nation’s human capital cannot be guaranteed unless a robust, skills-driven learning environment was created, the President said his administration had also made significant strides in the country’s human capital development agenda.
Earlier, Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, explained that the initiative was to equip young Nigerians with marketable skills.
He urged young Nigerians to seize the opportunity, saying “It is an opportunity for every Nigerian youth to get on board, learn a skill and get engaged to take control of the future.”
Also, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, congratulated beneficiaries of the N1 million presented to six members of NiYA, representing the six geo-political zones of the country for a start-up package to help them implement their programmes as self-employed and skilled youths.
Edun said NiYA was a bold and ambitious step towards achieving President Tinubu’s commitment to empowering young Nigerians.
He said the project speaks directly to the aspirations of over 60 million Nigerian youths from the ages of 18 to 35 within the nation’s borders and across the Diaspora, who are hungry for knowledge, skills and opportunities.
