The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has reiterated its willingness to partner and collaborate with the African Development Bank Group to alleviate and enhance the engagement of youths in sustainable socio- economic activities.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, HON. SUNDAY DARE, ably represented by the Permanent Secretary, MR OLUSADE ADESOLA, dropped these hints when he received in audience a delegation from the AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP, who are on a business development mission in Nigeria.
The Permanent Secretary stated that the Ministry has purposely and deliberately rolled out several implementable programmes that would commit our Youths to acquire vocational skills in identifiable occupational fields for job creation and wealth generation.
These initiatives, according to the Permanent Secretary is in furtherance of entrenching the present administration’s mandate of lifting hundred million Nigerian youths out of poverty in the coming years.
MR ADESOLA asserted that partnership with the AFDB would be mostly cherished in order to consolidate the milestone achievements recorded in youth development by this administration.
Some of the highlighted vocational programmes for collaboration, the Permanent Secretary stated, are agricultural and vocational skills acquisition, enhancing capacity for youth officers in the Ministry and capacity building of Coaches to impact talented youths in sports.
He also said the scaling of Youth capacity skills in varied ICT areas to key into the new innovation in information technology which is today the global community practice.
He expressed confidence that these programmes when implemented consistently and sustainably would take the youths out of the streets, drawing similar paradigm to tested evidences in France, which deliberately introduced Night Leagues, the national youth games, Digital Online youth assembly etc.
In her presentation, the leader of the ADFB delegation, MRS. DOROBA HENDRINA commented that the primary objective of their visit to the Ministry is to explore possible ways of collaborating in developing youth potentials.
She disclosed that the AFDB corporate plan was to devise strategies of linking the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and SMEDAN in areas of similar functions, participating in stakeholders meeting being chaired by Ministry of Finance, working on improving on previous efforts which does not prioritize human capital development.
