The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, MR. SUNDAY DARE has inaugurated members of the Board of Commonwealth Youth Programme ( CYP ) University of Abuja.
Speaking at the event which held in Abuja, HON. DARE said the occasion is very important to the Ministry in various ways mainly because it shows commitment and resolve of Government to improve institutional capacity to deliver on its mandate in ensuring competency and well-trained workforce within the youth sector.
He further said the constitution of the Board of Directors is a key component of the CYP programme which is very necessary in the selection of capable men and women who will be inaugurated and who would in turn set out the overall strategic direction for the operation of the CYP for the next four years.
The Minister stated that the CYP diploma in youth Development Distance Learning programme took off in Nigeria in 2006 with agreement and memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on the 18th May, 2005 between the CYP Secretariat Zambia, the Federal Government of Nigeria and Abuja.
HON. DARE said, despite some hitches associated with the operation of the CYP programme, many youth workers and young Nigerians were trained and certified capable of doing youth work by being awarded the relevant diploma certificates.
He said, though the programme could not operate optimally since 2011 due partly to the dwindling financial resources in the Ministry and more recently because of the new directives from the National University Commission (NUC that Nigerian Universities should stop running diploma programmes.
To this end, HON. DARE said he wishes to state the need to sustain the specialized platform for capacity building in youth work as was considered appropriate to work out the programme to Post- Graduate degree Award level.
The Minister seized the opportunity to congratulate the members on their well-deserved appointment and enjoin them to use their best endeavours to justify the confidence reposed in them while he declared the reconstituted Board of the CYP CENTER reconstituted.
In attendance was the representative of the Vice Chancellor University of Abuja, PROF. GADZAMA AMOS ALI; Director of the Education and Youth Development in the Ministry, MR. EDE OGABA and PROF. OCHILI EKUNDAYO.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, MR OLUSADE ADESOLA, ably represented by MR EDEH OGABA remarked that the occasion is important to the Ministry because capacity Development of youth workers and youth practitioners across the country is cardinal in delivery of quality youth work services.
