Deborah Akinyosoye
President Bola Tinubu has announced the convocation of a “National Youth Conference.”
The Nigerian leader said the “conference will be a platform to address the diverse challenges and opportunities confronting our young people, who constitute more than 60 per cent of our population.”
Speaking Tuesday in a televised Independence Day broadcast, he said the conference will be held for 30 days.
“It will provoke meaningful dialogue and empower our young people to participate actively in nation-building. By ensuring that their voices are heard in shaping the policies that impact their lives, we are creating a pathway for a brighter tomorrow.”
Essence of conference
The President said the conference would ensure that the voices of young people are heard in shaping policies that impact their lives, creating a pathway for a brighter tomorrow.
The decision may not be unconnected to the agitation among the youths across the country, which has led to continued public protests since the #EndSARS protest against police brutality and harassment in 2020 and the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest that commenced in August and is still ongoing across major cities in the country today.
“As we work to overcome the challenges of the day, we remain mindful of the next generation as we seek to galvanize their creative energy towards a better future,” he said.
“We lead today with the future we wish to bequeath to our children in focus, recognizing that we cannot design a future that belongs to them without making them its architects.”
Mr Tiinubu added that the conversations would unite young people to collaboratively develop solutions to issues such as education, employment, innovation, security, and social justice.
“The modalities of this confab and selection of delegates will be designed in close consultation with our young people through their representatives,” he added.
He noted that the government would ensure that young people’s aspirations are at the heart of the conference’s deliberations.
Implementation
The President noted that the government will “thoroughly consider and implement the recommendations and outcomes from this forum as we remain resolute in our mission to build a more inclusive, prosperous, and united Nigeria.”
“Our government is implementing several other youth-centric programmes to give our young people an advantage in the rapidly changing world. We are implementing, amongst others, the 3 million Technical Talents programme (3MTT) of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, aimed at building Nigeria’s technical talent backbone,” he said.