The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, says the ministry has trained 200,000 youths on Digital Literacy, Skills Acquisition, Entrepreneurship, Employability, and Leadership programmes.
Dare made the disclosure at a book launch titled “It’s Youth O’clock in Nigeria,” authored by Malam Idris Ojoko, Chairman of the Forum of 36 States and FCT Chairmen of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), held on Thursday in Abuja.
The event also featured the presentation of an award to the minister by NYCN, recognising him as the “Best Performing Minister in Nigeria.”
Represented by Mr. Tonye Ebitonye, his Special Assistant on Multimedia, Dare said the award was a call to greater service and a motivation for more hard work.
“I am more inspired now than ever before to be totally committed to the Federal Government and the mandate of this ministry in drawing up policies, initiatives, programmes and projects that will uplift the Nigerian youths.
“One of our cardinal and most important programmes is the DEEL, an acronym for Digital Literacy, Skills Acquisition, Entrepreneurship, Employability and Leadership.
“Under this initiative, we have done a lot of work. Close to 200,000 youths have undergone one kind of training or the other.
“Our plan from 2022 is to upscale this and get more young people to be beneficiaries of these activities,” he said.
Earlier, the book reviewer and Chairman of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Ltd., Alhaji Ahmed Wadada, said the book exposed the theory and practice of the roles, challenges, and involvement of youths in nation-building.
He said the book helps current and future leaders understand how to plan, design, and evaluate youth programmes that enable young people to thrive.
Wadada noted that the book was well thought out and challenged the belief that Nigerian youths are not industrious.
He urged youths to be faithful, committed, courageous, and fearless in pursuing their dreams and aspirations to avoid being suppressed or oppressed.
Also, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, represented by his Chief of Staff, Abdulkareem Asuku, urged Nigerian youths to aspire for elective positions in the 2023 general elections.
He encouraged youths to adopt the right attitude and shift from dependence on government and political patronage to self-reliance.
The author, Idris Ojoko, said the book focuses on the role of youth in national development and advised government to establish professional career training institutes to enhance youth capacity.
He also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint 12 young people under 40 years as Senior Special Assistants—two from each geopolitical zone—and to consider youths for ministerial appointments.
