In a move to identify skills, locations and employment needs for better access to government opportunities, the Federal Government has begun a nationwide drive to register Nigerians of ages 15 to 35.
The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande disclosed this in Abuja, while launching the National Youth Data Bank project.
According to the him, the exercise would capture young Nigerians across both formal and informal sectors.
Olawande listed youths in agriculture, sports, creative industries and technology among those targeted.
“Reliable data would help government better understand their needs, skills and locations,”he said.
He explained that the exercise would provide answers to critical questions about the country’s youth population, including who they are, where they are, what they can do and the opportunities they require.
“We also want to get the formal and the informal youth to make sure that they are part of this. We want everybody.
“We even want to know the youth in agriculture. We want to know the youth in sport. We want to know all those in creative tech and all that, so that even when we say some people need jobs, we know, okay, these people need skills.”
The minister stressed that the initiative was a continuous government programme and not an electoral exercise.
In his remarks, the Managing Director/CEO of POGMA Nigeria Limited, the technical partner to the project, Oluyinka Akerele, said registration points had been established in educational institutions and would be extended to local government areas and wards across the country.
“For the Nigerian youth registration, we have created cluster points in schools, polytechnics, universities, College of Education. These are targets for the formal sectors,” Akerele said.
He explained that the exercise would cover youths in secondary schools, polytechnics, universities and colleges of education, as well as those in informal employment and rural communities.
According to Akerele, enumerators would be deployed across the 774 local government areas to register youths, including those in hard-to-reach communities.
He urged young Nigerians to participate in the exercise, saying registration would enable government to identify them and determine how best to connect them with available opportunities.
“All we appeal to our youth to do is to embrace the programme, go out en masse and be registered. It is only when you are registered that we know who you are, where you are, and how you can benefit from the supposed government dividend of democracy,” he said.
Akerele said the registration age bracket of 15 to 35 was in line with the Nigerian Youth Policy.
“You are addressed as a youth in Nigeria once you are 15, and once you are 35, you still remain a youth,” he said.
He added that the database would be regularly updated to accommodate young Nigerians who attain the eligible age.
“For those that are not up to 15, that’s why you have an updating, just like you have with INEC. Once they are 15, our enumerators are there to capture them,” he said.
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